Kid Icarus: Wings of Nature
by AeroJester203
Summary: When inspecting a recently destroyed town, Viridi found an angel without his goddess. At first she brought him back out of curiosity, then he even seemed like part of her large family after a while. But when disaster strikes, he wants to go stop it. She agrees, but on one condition. AU retelling of Kid Icarus: Uprising. Original idea by Zodiac Kid. *SPOILER WARNINGS*. Please R&R!
1. Prologue: The Injured Angel

**Wow… After I said I'd update For the Mission, I get tied up with finals. Then I get inspiration brick'd with another story and I just** ** _have_** **to write it.**

 **This story's concept was not conceived by me. The original concept came from a Fanfiction author, Zodiac Kid, under a different title, "Kid Icarus Winter". I have checked and there has been no one who attempted to pick up the story and the original author is gone from the website, so I'm going to take this out of the proverbial lost-and-found, dust it off and adopt the story as my own. Zodiac, if you're reading this, I hope you're okay with it. Now, in Kid Icarus fashion, let's move out!**

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Prologue: The Injured Angel

In the world where gods, goddesses, monsters and other such creatures of myth exist, there was a town that had been met with terrible destruction. In fact, it could barely be called a town anymore. Buildings were smashed, fires were burning the last remnants, and the people were not spared. Aside from the few who had managed to flee the town when the monster appeared, charred corpses were littered about the streets and buildings.

With the monster gone now, its destruction complete, the town was quiet with all signs of life gone. It was as if the wind itself had stopped in a moment of silence to mourn the lives lost. Then as there were footsteps sounding among the rubble, it picked up again in a low whistle.

Stepping through the streets and kicking a rock out of her way was a preteen girl with long platinum blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Also, despite her appearance, she carried an intricate wooden staff, using it like a walking stick. Her dress didn't have a single scorch or speck of dirt marring it, since she had arrived after the destruction. Shifting her foot to avoid it brushing against a charred human hand as she walked, she surveyed the damage with the eyes of an adult.

"Hm, seems like a certain somebody's been slacking on the job if this town was allowed to be destroyed. The burn victims, the smashed buildings, and…" With the bottom of her staff, the girl prodded a giant pawprint pressed into the cobblestone pavement where a bloody smear that used to be a human was. "Probably the work of Twinbellows. Oh well, if this town is destroyed, time to let nature reclaim the area. I'll drop a Reset Bomb here and have Cragalanche chase down Twinbellows. Can't have it burning down a forest."

Right as the girl raised her staff, a sound made her stop.

"…utena…"

The girl lowered her staff and turned to a small pile of rubble inside a ruined wall of a house. Had there been a voice coming from there? She moved closer and heard the strained voice again.

"…Lady Palutena… Please…"

With a wave of her staff, some vines grew out of the ground and a body was uncovered. It appeared to be a brown-haired 14-year-old sustaining several injuries as he lay on his back. He had burns all over himself, his clothes, particularly his toga, were burned away or scorched black in several places, and he had several cuts, one which was across his forehead bleeding over his eyes as he murmured in a semi-unconscious state.

"Lady Palutena… Please… Help…"

The girl shook her head, "Poor kid. Probably thought he could take on a monster all by himself, hoping the Goddess of Light would personally back him up. Oh well, just another human soon to be dead." She was about to turn away to leave when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. "Wait…"

Clearing away some looser rubble and dirt revealed something that she hadn't seen before. Wings. Horribly mangled and broken, but definitely angel wings. Taking a clearer look around, knowing what she was looking for, she spotted a divine weapon, the First Blade. Picking it up with her free hand, she took another look at the angel. She felt her curiosity rise.

'Why would an angel be left here? I thought angels were meant to live peaceful lives in Skyworld, not be warriors…' The girl kept from speaking aloud. She could never be sure that she was alone where gods and goddesses were involved. Shifting the First Blade to her other hand to hold it with her staff, she walked over and grabbed the angel's arm. Even with a Drink of the Gods, it might not be enough. He needed to get to a safe environment. Raising her staff, the two of them were warped away in a flash of green light, leaving a few autumn leaves behind.

Within a matter of minutes, a massive pink orb could be seen descending from the sky before it crashed into the ruined town leaving a pink bubble that caused plants to overrun the stone work in frenzy and use the corpses as nutrients. And over the fields, a stone meteor could be seen falling towards the end of a path of burnt grass.


	2. Chapter 1: Communing With Nature

Chapter 1: Communing With Nature

The girl walked along an orange, red and brown corridor with two other people. One was a purple-skinned, lanky man in a black suit with white gauntlets and silver hair with a long mustache. He also wore a golden brooch fastened to the front of his suit and a golden monocle over his left eye. The other was a fairly ordinary-looking blond haired teenage girl with more revealing white clothes. Along with her white outfit, she wore a blue scarf that sparked with electricity and fluttered in nonexistent wind. As they moved down the hall, the colors seemed to shift and blend in different ways, but all were earth-like colors. After overseeing the Reset Bomb doing its job, the girl was on her way to the ward.

Despite appearing the youngest, the preteen girl walked with the carriage of their superior, remaining two steps ahead. Her outfit was a dress partitioned into three colors, the top and short sleeves being purple, the middle part and a part of the hem red-orange, and the greater part of the hem magenta. She carried the same staff and wore tree bark colored, open-toed boots with green stockings. Her right arm had a similar green long sleeve that was decorated with patterns representing different parts of nature, while her other arm had a green and brown bracer covering half her forearm, and her entire outfit was decorated with vines. A purple flower also decorated the front of her dress and a green flower grew on the vines holding her ponytail together. She carried the same staff in her right hand and used it like a walking stick, despite being more than capable of walking without it. It's not like she was in any hurry, and it made her look more official.

"Mistress Viridi, if I may ask," the man intoned, "why did you bring the angel here to your sanctuary? Is it not-"

The preteen girl cut the man off, "Well, Arlon, if he was going to get picked up, he wouldn't have been left there. I want answers, and he's going to give them to me. Phosphora, is Cragalanche back yet?"

The blonde teen nodded, "Yeah, it wasn't much of a problem for old rock face. Eh, but he got a slight injury. A crack on his-"

"Posterior," Arlon finished. "A woman should not swear, Phosphora."

Phosphora crossed her arms as she walked, "I was gonna say 'rear', sheesh."

"Be sure to tell him to get it fixed," Viridi said as she stopped in front of a door. "Now, go on, you're dismissed. I want to talk to him alone."

"Shame," Phosphora said as she and Arlon left. "Wanted to see if he was cute."

After they left, Viridi opened the door and saw the brunette teen resting on the bed. The Drink of the Gods had fixed a majority of his broken bones in an instant, but he was still passed out from blood loss. Still, the elixir should have sped up his healing process as well, and Viridi meant it when she said she wanted answers. Taking her staff, she prodded him with a curved protrusion at the end.

The angel muttered a bit and turned over to his stomach, messing up the blanket with his wings as he cuddled the pillow. The display was pretty cute, but Viridi wanted him awake. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she spun her staff to have the blunt end facing the angel and lightly bonked him on the head with it.

"Gah!" the angel cried out, clearly awake now.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Viridi said in a nonchalant manner.

Rubbing his head, the angel turned back around as he sat up in the bed. After seeming to be in a daze for a bit, his blue eyes snapped open and he reached for a weapon that wasn't there. After looking to where he usually kept it and then looking around he spoke, "Twinbellows-"

"Was taken care of by one of my warriors." Viridi interrupted. "The town was destroyed, though. If I hadn't been walking by, you'd be finished. Now I have some questions for you, angel."

The angel waved his hands, "Wait, wait, wait, who are you, exactly?"

Viridi was offended that the angel seemed ignorant of her. Thumping the bottom of her staff on the ground, she said, "I am Viridi, Goddess of Nature! Surely you've heard of me?"

"Uh… heh-heh… Can't say I have, sorry… Uh, I'm Pit, servant of the Goddess of Light. Nice to meet you?" Then he shook his head in confusion, "Wait a minute, how'd I even get here? Last I remember, I got rammed by Twinbellows and hit something solid, then it was lights out. Unless…" he snapped his fingers, "Crisis Mode! I always forget about that. It must've kept me from being finished."

"Hate to interrupt your recollecting, but I didn't bring you here just to take up space in my fortress. I have some questions for you." Viridi stepped forward and held up her free hand. In a small flash of light, Pit's First Blade appeared in it. "Last I checked, angels don't run around swinging divine weapons. Care to explain what on Overworld you were doing there?"

Pit scratched the back of his head, "Well, humans were in danger. I had to do _something_. Besides I woke up outside of the town, while it was being attacked, with the First Blade beside me. Pretty clear message on what to do, if you ask me."

Viridi scoffed, "If you were supposed to be there, then why didn't your Goddess of Light pick you up when you were in trouble? And just who are you that you're allowed to fight monsters. Aren't angels citizens of Skyworld?"

"After an… incident, I was made the captain of Lady Palutena's guard. Also, I'm the only angel in Skyworld, as far as I know." Pit replied after a pause. Then he got a bit worried. "And… well… she wasn't exactly… replying when I tried contacting her. I mean, there's been no activity from Medusa for 23 years, so maybe she overslept or something?"

Viridi raised an eyebrow. Medusa? Wasn't it her job as Queen of the Underworld to keep those things on a leash? And what about her boss? At length, Viridi said, "Well, anyway, you seem to be stranded without a way to contact your boss, so I guess you'll be staying here…"

"That's awfully nice of-"

"As a chore-boy." Viridi finished with a lopsided grin.

Pit's smile fell a bit, but then he decided that he should earn his keep if the Goddess of Nature was letting him stay here until he hears from Palutena again. He nodded, "Alright, er, Lady Viridi." Moving to get off the bed, he stretched a bit and his wings flapped as some of his back and neck joints popped. "Then, what's my first job?"

At first, Viridi was surprised that there wasn't even one complaint, but then she thought about it a bit. "You can join my Nutskis on air patrol."

This time, Pit's face fell, and he looked away as he said, "Um… Slight problem…" He looked down and muttered something.

"What was that?"

"I can't fly…" Pit muttered a little louder.

Viridi raised her eyebrows. An angel that couldn't fly? Why was he the captain of Palutena's guard then? "But that Drink of the Gods should have healed all your broken bones."

Pit shrugged, "My wings haven't been able to fly since I was born as an angel. A Drink of the Gods won't fix that. I've tried. I'm still a great fighter, though."

"Is that why you got mauled by Twinbellows?" Viridi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Pit's wings folded against his back as he crossed his arms and turned away slightly, with a petulant look on his face, "Hey, everybody has their off days…"

"Really?" Viridi challenged with a lopsided grin, "Then I suppose you won't mind a little tournament to measure your strength."

Pit pumped his fist in challenge, "Bring it- ow…" He held his arm after he made the quick motion. His bones were still just freshly set.

"Tomorrow," Viridi corrected. "You'll fight my Forces of Nature tomorrow. Rest up, because it'll be a three-round tournament." She raised her staff and waved it. In a small flash of green light, a large acorn with green, leaf-like wings, four skinny brown fibers and a single yellow eye appeared. "If you need something, feel free to ask this Nutski." With that said, Viridi turned around and left the room.

Pit looked at the fluttering acorn and waved, "Hi! I'm Pit, what's your name?"

"…" The Nutski just remained fluttering in place.

Pit lowered his hand awkwardly, "O-kaaaay… can't talk, huh? Well, that's okay, the Centurions back at Skyworld weren't much for talking besides 'Yes, sir!' either. I mean, loyalty is nice, but there's nobody I can really talk to back home, besides Palutena. Do you have anybody to hang out wi-"

The Nutski fluttered upwards and left through the window, and Pit turned to look after him. "Uh, okay, see you later then…" Pit's wings drooped and he sighed as he went back to sit on the bed. After he did, his stomach growled, and he rubbed it. "Man, I should've asked if there was a place to get something to eat."

While Pit was thinking about taking his chances getting lost to find a cafeteria, he heard a fluttering again. He turned to look and the Nutski was back in the window with one of its fibers curled around something. "Oh, you're back! Or are you a different…?"

The Nutski flew towards Pit and flipped forward to drop something on the bed. Pit picked it up and looked at it. It was a tiny curved piece of ivy with some tiny leaves on it. As Pit turned it in his hand, he asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

In response the Nutski flew slightly forward and bumped the side of Pit's head. Pit rubbed the side of his head, irritated, and felt his ear, where the Nutski had flown into. "My ear?" Pit looked at the ivy again and noticed that it was curved like an ear. Moving his hand behind his ear, the ivy seemed to respond to the proximity and slithered out of his hand before it started curving to snugly fit behind his ear. "Heh-heh, hey, that tickles!"

Once Pit let go and the ivy was firmly in place, he suddenly felt a strong sense of annoyance. "Whoa! Where'd that come from?" He looked around, and the only other thing in the room was the Nutski. Pit tilted his head and asked, "Was that… you?"

Another surge of annoyance washed over Pit and an image appeared in his mind's eye, showing Pit just a second ago, talking rapid-fire. Pit laughed and said, "Sorry, just not very comfortable with silence, so I tend to try to fill it. Thanks for the ivy, though. Glad to hear you now. Sort of, at least."

A feeling of forgiveness brushed against Pit and then a feeling of caution touched him, with two images. The first was an image of a tiny version of Pit covering his ears with a strained face as waves came from the ivy, reaching out to a bunch of Nutski's fluttering around. The second image showed a bunch of Nutski's flying around him, still, but Tiny Pit was facing one, and the waves from the ivy were only going to the one Nutski.

After a bit, Pit said, "So, be careful about trying to talk to a bunch of you guys with this, but if I concentrate on one, then I'll be fine?" Pit felt good about figuring it out when a feeling of affirmation reached him.

Soon, though, Pit remembered his hunger and asked, "Is there anywhere that I can get some food? If you could lead me there, I'll be fine walking as long as I take it easy."

Pit got the feeling of affirmation again and the Nutski turned around before fluttering out of the door at a more relaxed pace. Pit followed while minding his healing bones, "So… what's your name?"

A varying pattern of wooden knocking sounds played in Pit's head and he tilted his head confused, "I… don't think I can pronounce that, sorry." Another feeling touched his mind, and he said, "You didn't expect me to? Then why'd you tell me?"

The image of Pit talking rapidly appeared again, and Pit thought for a bit before saying, "All right, I can't deny that I'd keep asking." Then he shrugged cheerfully, "Maybe I'll learn to pronounce it as time goes by! Or maybe I can give you a nickname."

Such an extreme feeling of disapproval assaulted Pit at that moment that he stopped walking for half a second before resuming to follow the Nutski. "Okay, guess you don't like that other idea…"

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 **1st real chapter! I'm glad that I got this out, because I honestly got a little stuck on where to take the story past the prologue. Hope you all like! I'll see you in this story after I update the other two.**

 **-AJ203**


	3. Chapter 2: Initiation and a Dream?

Chapter 2: Initiation and… a Dream?

After Pit had gotten something to eat – most of it being fruit, since he didn't exactly trust the vegetarian dishes at the cafeteria – he spent the rest of the day looking around, being guided by Don.

Even though his Nutski guide was against him using a nickname, Pit gave him one in his mind. He picked Don because that name sounds like knocking on a wooden door. Alright, so it wasn't that clever, but Pit worked hard to come up with something that sounded good! Cut him some slack.

As the day went by, Pit saw that Viridi had an Arms Altar as well with a short, leafless tree-like creature with long arms, short legs and large hands with a single yellow eye on one of the blue vines crossing along its body ready to man the weapons-to-hearts crank at a moment's notice. Pit waved at the tree creature, saying hi, and he got a confused feeling from it. The cyclopean tree looked at its hands and then waved them as if taking them for a test. Pit explained that waving (with one hand) was a way of greeting and saying goodbye.

He got an image from the tree creature of it running through a horde of shadow figure enemies, knocking them aside by flailing its arms up and down and going every which way.

Pit rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, okay, I guess you could use it for that, too…"

After setting some powers that he had gotten before things went south at the town he was trying to protect, Pit waved goodbye to the tree creature as he and Don left the room. The creature hesitantly waved back before the doors closed behind Pit. When Pit spotted a window, he asked Don if there was a way to walk around with a view of outside.

As Pit walked the perimeter of the sanctuary courtyard on the top level, he saw that, despite being the Goddess of Nature, Viridi had her sanctuary in the sky instead of on the ground. It was a nice view of the sunset, but that was also a reminder that he should get some rest if he wanted to be at a hundred percent tomorrow

So he asked Don to lead him back to the ward since it seemed to be his bed for the night. Once back, he let out a yawn and flopped face-down on the mattress, not bothering to pull the blanket over him before he fell asleep.

As the hours of the night passed, Pit slept soundly, having a dream about fighting Medusa in her monstrous form with the Three Sacred Treasures in the Sky Palace. Soon, the door quietly opened and Viridi made her way into the ward with two of the tree creatures. As they entered, Pit stirred, but remained asleep. As he turned to lay on his side, he murmured, "Your days of tyranny are… over…"

Viridi rolled her eyes, "Cute… He dreams of heroics in his sleep. Urgles, you know what to do. Carry it gently, and don't flip the bed… yet."

As the tree creatures moved to scoot the bed away from the wall before getting on either side of it and picking it up, Viridi called up Pit's First Blade into her hand again before placing it near Pit on the bed. He actually reacted to its proximity and held it close to him as his dream continued.

As Pit dodged one of Medusa's eye-beams using the Wings of Pegasus, he shouted, "Not today! I know you're holding Lady Palutena captive, and I'll destroy you and set her free!"

Medusa sneered, "If you were smarter, you'd wonder why you'd be dreaming this."

Pit stopped short in mid-air, "Dreaming?"

That hesitance cost him dearly as Medusa grabbed him out of the air. He struggled, trying to get the Arrow of Light to cut her hand enough to escape. "Quit squirming and listen, brat! It's already taking most of my power getting to you, quit wasting my time!"

"You won't fool me!" Pit declared defiantly. "Palutena's taught me that everything you say is a lie!"

Medusa glared at him and then smirked, "All right, I can work with that. This _is_ a dream, it _isn't_ the last time we'll meet before what's left of me _isn't_ a mindless drone. You _shouldn't_ train as much as you can before _he_ decides to take action, and you _can't_ trust what Viridi says. But you shouldn't listen to me; I only tell lies."

By the time Medusa finished her spiel, Pit's head was practically spinning. Palutena always told him that Medusa couldn't be trusted, but here she was saying stuff that, if she was lying, could be seen as a warning. More than that, what was she going on about with the mindless drone bit?

He shook his head. Medusa was just trying to throw him off! She thinks that just because he isn't the brightest that she can trick him?! Not today! But then something occurred to him. How did she know about Viridi?

Before he could ask, he felt a quake and the area around them started blacking out. Medusa glanced around and said, "Time's up. You could say _he's_ found me. Think about my message, Pit. Next time we meet, it'll be on the battlefield, for real." She gave a grudging smile "Maybe when all is said and done, you'll see we aren't too different anymore."

Before Pit could even begin to ask what she meant, he was jolted awake. He found himself flying through the air with the First Blade in his hand. Only, he didn't suddenly gain the ability to fly. Sadly, the only thing he gained was a face-plant into a slightly sand-cushioned stone floor. Using his fighting instincts and momentum, he rolled to his feet and looked around. He saw two Urgles dragging away his now capsized bed through a gateway. Once they were through, a stone portcullis lowered and crashed down, barring Pit's escape.

"What on Overworld?!" Pit yelled as he looked around. He seemed to be in an arena of some sort. Almost like a colosseum. There were barred windows and he could tell from the pale light that it was barely sunrise. Inwardly, Pit was thankful for his decision to go to bed early. He felt on top of his game again, and ready for anything.

Good thing too, since curtains were suddenly pulled away from the walls revealing a bioluminescent moss that bathed the chamber in a green light. As Pit looked around at the change of light, he noticed a door open at the back of the topmost box. Viridi stepped in and took her seat atop a throne of wood decorated with vines and leaves. As if on cue with her sitting down, the doors at the sides opened, and all manner of creatures made from stone, wood, plants and water shuffled in and occupied the stands.

Also, a gate at the back of a wider box below Viridi's opened and three more people came out. Two of them were the most normal people that Pit had seen at Viridi's sanctuary, besides Viridi, aside from the old man's purple skin. The third however…

The third was a rock. And that didn't mean, like a really strong and/or dependable person. That meant literally. He was slightly round in shape, like a boulder, but craggy all around with a body of stone and some short legs to walk around with. His arms were big and bulky, and seemed to be made of a slightly lighter stone, possibly having some clay mixed in. There were also traces of crystals around his head and his face was set seriously, not quite a frown, but definitely not a smile. With glowing red eyes fixed on the arena, he sat down, not needing a chair like the other two people that walked in.

"So," The sound of Viridi's voice snapped Pit's attention back up to her. "I take it that you slept well since you recovered nicely from my Urgles' wake-up call?"

From her playful tone, even Pit could tell that it was on her orders that he was moved here and got such a rude awakening. When he had been sleeping so soundly, too!

…

Pit paused. Was it a sound sleep? He could've sworn that he'd been having a dream. Dismissing it as just one of those times where you can't remember a dream after waking up, he turned his attention back to Viridi.

"You bet!" Pit said, deciding to play along with Viridi's banter. "I feel like a million hearts!" Then, deciding to go all out, he started doing one of his pre-battle rallying cries. Hey, if they wanted a show, Pit would give them a show.

Pit started, "Now, Forces of Nature and Lady Viridi!" He slid one foot back and turned to face the Forces of Nature behind him, "I will be fighting to prove myself in your eyes! I am Pit, servant of the Goddess of Light! Now, I say to you," He looked over his shoulder to the top box again, putting just enough into it so that his hair flipped, "Lady Viridi…" Turning to face her again and planting his left foot forward, he twisted the First Blade in his right hand so that he held it parallel to his shoulders with the sharpened part of the gun barrel facing away from him, completing the fighting stance that he struck, "The fight. Is. On!"

There was silence for a bit before Pit nearly fell over after hearing a giggle. He looked at the source, the blonde girl sitting in the box below Viridi on a cloud-cushioned metal throne decorated with two lightning bolt patterns. She held her hand in front of her mouth as she laughed and said, "That's just adorable!"

Pit held up his First Blade and waved it as he said, "Hey, don't make fun of my rallying routines! It's how I get pumped up!"

A calmer, elderly voice spoke up, "I personally thought it was well put together for such short notice, Master Pit."

Pit turned to the purple-skinned man and said, "Thank you, er…"

"Arlon the Serene," the man supplied, briefly standing from his star-patterned and moon-crested chair to bow a bit.

"Thank you, Arlon," Pit finished, awkwardly returning the bow. Then he faced Viridi, who seemed indifferent to the interaction. Once he was looking at her, she said, "Done?"

Pit nodded, "I'm ready to fight!"

"Good." Viridi lifted her staff and said, "I'll start you off easy and see if you can handle these three first. An Urgle, a Pew Pew and a Dibble Dop."

As the portcullis opened, Pit raised an eyebrow, "'Pew Pew'? 'Dibble Dop'? Do you name the troops yourself?" But he focused back on the gate when he heard footsteps moving towards him.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Viridi asked dangerously.

Pit shrugged as he kept his eyes trained on the gate, "No, I'm really asking." Three figures were slightly visible in the hall now.

"Because I do," Viridi said proudly. Then she giggled, "Dibble Dop… Isn't it just the cutest name you've ever heard?"

Pit decided to say nothing and held his weapon at the ready. Three of Viridi's troops came out. The one in the center was one of the tree creatures that Pit had seen earlier, but the other two were unfamiliar to him. The left one floated in the air and looked every bit like a pitcher plant, aside from having a single yellow eye on the lid. The one on the right looked like a tree stump that had its top bent forward into a cannon shape. It had two yellow eyes near the base of its roots, which it used to walk, and the cannon mounted on top had a spiked stone ring around it as well as two leaves sprouting at the bottom.

Once the gate closed again, Viridi spoke up, "Round 1, begin!"

The Urgle immediately rushed Pit, and Pit waited for him to get closer, even though he was surprised at his speed before dashing backwards, barely dodging the Urgle putting his hands on the ground and bringing them up in an effort to flip him. Pit got a few quick slashes with his First Blade in before dashing away and looking over his shoulder as he ran. Trying to keep all three of his opponents in sight, Pit noticed the Dibble Dop starting to swell up as the Pew Pew opened the hatch on its cannon, revealing a third eye. The Urgle was also still right behind him.

Dodging another attempt at flipping from the Urgle, he saw the Pew Pew shoot a massive cannonball from seemingly nowhere. He changed direction, heading right for it. He could hear the Urgle still behind him and the cannonball was coming fast. Pit smiled mischievously and ducked down, rolling right underneath the cannonball. He got back to his feet as he heard a satisfying thwack and the Urgle was knocked back into the wall, the cracks from Pit's earlier slashes widening into splits. In a flash of green light, he was warped out of the arena.

Before Pit could celebrate, or even catch his breath from all of the running, he heard a splashing sound from his right and immediately dove forward as he turned his head and saw a ball of water heading his way. The Dibble Dop had gotten the time it needed to charge its attack and caught him off guard. Pit had dodged the bulk of the water, but the ball splashed water and muddy sand in a small blast, hitting Pit with shrapnel-like mud.

Taking a lighter, slightly galloping pace now that the Urgle was out of the fight, Pit pointed his First Blade at the Dibble Dop and started taking more evasive maneuvers as he switched between dodging the cannonballs and outrunning the water bombs and focusing all his shots on the Dibble Dop that fired more dangerous shots.

Viridi watched the remainder of the fight, mildly impressed. While an Urgle was far from the most intelligent, or deadly, of her troops, she didn't expect Pit to be clever enough to trick it into taking a cannonball. And he showed pretty quick reflexes dodging a shot that caught him off guard. 'Seems he's more resourceful than I gave him credit for,' she thought.

* * *

 **And that's the end of the chapter for now! Sorry, but this was the only good stopping point I could find in the tournament. If I included the whole tournament, this chapter would run for a long time and I try to make the chapter title relevant for the whole chapter. I'll see you next time after I edit a chapter for the person I'm betareading for and update For the Mission.**

 **-AJ203**


	4. Chapter 3: Tourney's End

Chapter 3: Tourney's End

Soon after, the Dibble Dop fell and the Pew Pew was no challenge for Pit to maneuver around and take down. Like the Urgle, the two of them were warped out in a green flash of light. Letting out a breath, he turned to face Viridi.

"Well, it wasn't a perfect run, but I win this round!" Pit declared triumphantly.

Viridi smirked, "Don't get a big head; it'll make you a bigger target for my next troops." She held up her hand, "For the next round, a Jitterthug, a Blader and a Pip."

The gate opened again and three more of Viridi's troops came out. The one on the right was a pink cell-like creature with a leaf growing out of the yellow center. The center troop was a slightly humanoid plant creature made of leaves and stems and thorn-like claws on its feet with two leaf-shaped blades for hands and a yellow eye in the center of its leaf-shaped head. The remaining left creature appeared to be an animated green bush with branches sticking out of its arms acting as fingers. It walked around on stubby legs with branch toes and wore a mask which had a resemblance to an old man with grassy eyebrows and a long grassy mustache.

Pit took another second to glance at the cell-like creature. 'It (should I use he or she?) doesn't look like much. Why would Lady Viridi have this one in this fight?'

'You'll see soon enough,' Viridi's voice sounded in Pit's head. Pit looked up at Viridi, who was smirking confidently. She raised her hand and said, "Round 2, begin!"

The Blader rushed forward immediately as the other two Forces of Nature spread outward and (you know what? Pit went with his gut and said "she") she started slashing at Pit with both her leaf blades in a clothesline spin. Pit easily ducked and then slid backwards to avoid the leaf creature's suddenly jutting knee as she turned the spin into a pirouette sticking her slightly sharpened, segmented knee out to strike lower at him as her foot rested against her straight leg's knee.

But as he was sliding back, something halted his progress and he felt a slight stinging on his back as he touched whatever barrier he'd come across. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed it to be the Pip. He had been so focused on the Blader that he hadn't noticed the cell creature sneak behind him!

Unfortunately, Pit didn't have time to think over his mistake as the Blader extended her bent leg and kicked Pit into the air, scratching the front of his toga at the same time with her thorn toes. As he was sailing through the air, a red glow caught his eye, and he looked to see the Jitterthug doing a dance as he summoned three fireballs. Pit took aim with his First Blade and fired, trying to throw off the bush creature's aim, but the shots just bounced off his body. Pit growled as the fireballs sailed low, towards where he would land, and he couldn't do anything to stop them. Crossing his arms, he focused on covering his face as the three fireballs hit him and burst on impact, creating a cloud of smoke.

The three Forces of Nature triangulated around the cloud of smoke, the Blader waiting to see the damage her and her subordinates' combined efforts did. They were explicitly ordered to not _kill_ Pit, but she was sure they could control themselves to make him submit, but not do any fatal damage.

Suddenly a large blast of energy signifying a charged shot flew out of the smoke towards the Pip. He didn't have time to dodge and was shot in the middle by the attack, blasting him into two blobs of cytoplasm. Soon after, Pit came rushing out of the smoke with the top of his toga not much more than tatters, with the much more durable, sleeveless navy blue undersuit still intact, and some sparkles of light healing the burns on his arms. His Health Recovery power was first aid equivalent at best, mostly numbing the pain rather than fixing it, but he couldn't let his strength be diminished by burns on his arms.

'So that's his gimmick!' Pit saw the two blobs become two separate Pips. 'If I want to have room to dodge and maneuver, I'll need to take care of this one first! Or… these two…'

Slowing down once he reached them, Pit started bashing them with the back of the First Blade, making sure not to slice them, or else they would just separate again. He heard rapid footsteps approaching behind him and knocked both Pips away with the flat of the blade before turning and engaging the Jitterthug. His mask had flipped, resembling an angry monster rather than an old man now. The creature's body had also taken on a blood red color. It rushed towards Pit, clawing against the ground with the branch fingers in an effort to go faster.

Seeing an opportunity to try and take down the Jitterthug, Pit activated his Tirelessness power and took off running, alternating between keeping an eye on the Pips and Blader that had taken to higher altitudes to avoid the bush creature's rage and firing behind him to try and damage the rampaging creature. One other thing that Pit noticed is that his shots were having effect now, blasting off leaves from the Jitterthug's body.

With one last charge shot, the Jitterthug was knocked clear off his feet and was warped away before he hit the ground. Focusing back on the Pips again, Pit shot them each with a few more controlled shots, while dodging some laser strikes from the Blader, before they were warped away too. The Blader glided down before touching back on the ground. Pit let out a breath as his Tirelessness wore off and smiled as he held the First Blade casually over his shoulder.

"So… you're the leader of this trio, are you? Pretty slick move with that combo, but this was my favorite toga." Pit grabbed most of the remnants with his left hand and tore off what was left of the top portion of his toga. The brooch that had been holding up the toga was revealed to have been fastened to his under suit. His undersuit was formfitting and didn't seem to be that durable, but it was barely scorched and not even cut. Feeling the unspoken question on her mind, Pit flicked his undersuit with one finger from his left hand. It gave a sound similar to Kevlar. With that answered, Pit pointed his First Blade forward in challenge, "If you wanna beat me, you're going to have to give it your all! I'm the captain of Lady Palutena's guard for a reason!"

Pit got a sense of excitement from the Blader before a voice he didn't recognize spoke in his head, 'Good fight. Worthy opponent.'

Pit smiled in return as the two of them rushed forward. The Blader forewent spinning towards Pit and directly swung the leaf blades in an overhead arc towards Pit. Pit held his own blade over his head horizontally to catch both blades, but the Blader slid her blades forward and caught his First Blade in a notch within her leaf blades' design. Sensing the disarming maneuver coming, Pit twisted his body and jumped, pulling his weapon away from the deadlock. The X-shaped slash that followed from his pulling back barely missed his leg. Pointing his weapon forward, Pit fired a shot right in the Blader's face.

As she backed away, trying to get her bearings, she could hear his scuffling feet and held her blades behind her. The resulting clash of steel on steel proved she had made the right choice. She started spinning, holding her blades and knee out to give herself some space and to help shake her head clear.

But without her subordinates, she felt Pit simply fire at her from a distance. She had lost. But she didn't regret it. It was nature. Pit was stronger, Pit was smarter, ergo, Pit won.

Once the Blader was warped away, Pit lowered his weapon and let out a breath. He had two more uses out of his Health Recovery, but he wasn't that badly hurt and wanted to save them for the last round. His other power was also a good failsafe.

When he made eye-contact with Viridi, she seemed mildly impressed, but when she spoke, there was a taunting tone. "Well done. Bladers are my field commanders, more versatile and able to give simple orders to other troops. I should warn you though; this next trio has my best troops, each of them a deadly force on their own."

"I never back down from a fight!" Pit proclaimed boldly.

"All right, you've been warned," Viridi said. Then she pointed up to the ceiling as a wooden crate with only air holes poked towards the top on all sides was lowered. "That box has one of your opponents, a Clobbler. He'll be supported by a Flage and Captain Flare."

After she said this, a creature popped into the arena out of nowhere with his arms spread out, floating in the air. He had a ball of fire representing his head with a single yellow eye and a smile as he looked at Pit. He also wore something representing a stereotypical superhero suit over his short but buff body that was camouflage green and had brown gloves, boots and a belt with a fireball symbol for the buckle. His cape was navy blue and seemed to lead right into space, with glowing stars and lights shining from the spread fabric. Pit guessed that this one was Captain Flare.

Pit was taking this in when he saw a shadow move across the arena. He looked down and saw the silhouette of a skinny creature that appeared to have blades for hands. Once something shimmered in the green light of the arena, Pit looked and saw a creature become visible that was just that. It was another cellular creature, appearing to be made of cytoplasm, even having some of it trickling down. It had no other defining features aside from its single yellow eye in the middle of its head and the long blades it had for hands.

As Pit had been observing the two Forces of Nature, the crate finished its descent with a quiet thud. Pit entered his opening stance, keeping the First Blade close to his body, ready to block.

Viridi spoke up, "I don't have much control over Clobblers, so the round will start when the crate opens."

"Bring it!" Pit challenged.

With that said, the Flage sliced the top clean off the crate before vanishing with its camouflage. By its shadow, it was stalking around the arena, probably to get a good angle of attack on Pit. Captain Flare also grabbed the corners of his cape and wrapped it around himself, growing smaller until he vanished. The four walls of the crate fell with a creak and a thud, revealing… the cutest sleeping creature Pit had ever seen.

Pit blinked, and then blinked again, trying to see if it was a mirage. After it was clear that it wasn't, he said, "That… is… so cute!" The Clobbler took the form of a peach-like creature with two leaves on the top of its head. It sat on the ground, asleep with its long skinny legs stretched out in front of it. Curly-toed shoes were on its petite feet, and Pit felt bad for having to fight such a cute creature.

However, by the time that Pit had exclaimed how cute the Clobbler was, it started stirring lightly and opened its cute brown eyes, blinking them sleepily. Once it was fully awake, it saw Pit waving in a friendly manner, saying, "Hi there, little fella!"

In a matter of moments, the Clobbler started to grow, becoming disproportioned and bulgy. Pit jumped back slightly and held his weapon ready to defend himself. He might have gotten distracted, but he remembered that this was still a fight. If this really was one of Viridi's most dangerous troops, he should have his guard up.

As the Clobbler continued to swell, the bulges covered its former eyes and legs. The leaves at the top of its head wilted and turned brown, but still stayed. Four green muscled arms with veins throbbing sprouted out of the Clobbler's body, two of them wrapping around the bulbous body and locking behind, as if to hold the mass together. Once the creature had finished growing, its two other arms got into a ready position to fight, one fist curled, and the other hand open, a yellow eye at the end of each finger and the thumb.

'So _that's_ why it's called a "Clobbler…"' Pit thought offhandedly as he noticed the shadow of the Flage moving by his side. He fired a few sweeping shots as he ran in the opposite direction, hoping a few of them would hit. The Clobbler raced forward with a sliding haymaker, but luckily for Pit, it was way too slow. Its fist slammed into the arena wall, crumbling it only for a few seconds before it was restored with a slight glimmer of light.

However, while Pit was distracted, he was hit by two small flaming meteors. He hissed in pain as they bruised his body before bursting and burning the exposed parts of his arms and legs. He looked ahead and saw Captain Flare floating in mid-air. Pit aimed his First Blade to attack, but only two shots hit before Captain Flare swept the cape over him again and disappeared.

Pit heard the shuffling sound of sand being pushed around again, and dodged perpendicular to where he heard the approach.

Pit shouted as he struck a pose while dodging out of the way, "Olé!"

When he saw that the fists were going to slam into the ground, he shielded his eyes when the sand blasted outward.

When he heard blades scraping behind him, he quickly looped around backwards and jammed his fingers into the Flage's cytoplasm body, holding it in front of him while dodging the swings and stabs the cell creature blindly took. Under the cover of the descending sand cloud, Pit shouted, "Hey, Clobbler! Your tree had termites!"

Pit braced himself and faced the Flage towards the backhanded fist that swung outward. The Flage splattered and Pit was sent flying straight back into the wall of the arena, cracking the stone with his impact before dropping to the ground. He clutched his chest. Even with his undersuit being fireproof and resistant to slashes, it didn't offer that much protection against blunt force.

Pit felt something hot approaching him, so he rolled out of the way as three meteors struck the area where he'd been a moment ago. Scrambling to his feet, Pit activated both remaining uses of his Health Recovery power. It brought the pain in his back and the throbbing in his chest that he was sure was from some cracked ribs to only a slight thrumming feeling.

Facing upward, Pit leapt backwards and fired a massive shot from his First Blade. He didn't know how it worked, but he had a theory that the backwards motion forced the energy from the base of the weapon to the tip, ready to be fired. Captain Flare couldn't bring his cape up fast enough and fell to the ground before being warped away.

Pit dodged another sliding haymaker from the Clobbler, and then jumped over the backhanded swing following after. Pit noticed that the Clobbler kept one hand open, trying to watch Pit with the eyes on its fingertips. Jumping backward to avoid a cross punch from the swinging arm, Pit took aim and fired a charged shot at the Clobbler's open hand. The fruit creature let out an enraged growl as it closed its open hand in a fist and started swinging around blindly. Pit ran out of its range and kept firing shots.

Unfortunately, Pit forgot about the creature's massive bulk as a weapon. Using the eyes on its uninjured hand, as it put its hands palms down on the ground, the Clobbler sighted Pit and then leapt upward before crashing down right near Pit, causing another cloud of sand to rise. Before Pit could run away, he was gripped by a hand that swept out under the cover of the sand and then slammed straight in the side with a haymaker.

As he went flying, Pit had a serious case of déjà vu. 'I can't even fly,' he internally lamented, 'and I still get enough air time in battle.'

As Pit slammed into a different portion of the arena wall, this time causing a few loose bricks to crumble on top of him, he was sure that he felt one of his legs break from the impact, even through the reinforced leather of his shin guard which now hurt as it clung around his leg. His body started getting a slightly red hue to it and he started breathing hard. Crisis Mode. But he wouldn't be able to do anything with a broken leg.

As Viridi watched the Clobbler rush over to Pit, she started raising her staff to warp the troop back to his containment chamber when she saw a spark of magic surround Pit. And she could've sworn that she'd heard the snap all the way at her throne as his leg was set back in place.

A few of his other bruises also faded slightly, and Pit let out a calming breath as his mind was clearer and the red hue faded from his body. Crisis Recovery might've made a difference in his first battle with Twinbellows, but no point looking back on what he didn't have back then. He snatched up his First Blade and took careful aim.

The Clobbler saw what he was doing and closed its other hand, shielding its eyes as it swung its arms broadly to try and bar Pit's escape. That was what Pit wanted. He dropped to the ground as a blind swing came towards him and he rolled out of the way to avoid the swinging punch and massive body. The Clobbler's hand punched into the wall, breaking it down again, and Pit quickly got behind him and fired all over the back of the creature's body. As one of the shots grazed the leaves on top of its body, the creature growled in pain and turned around. Pit noticed the reaction and focused on charging a shot as he dodged backwards.

The Clobbler jumped into the air again, but Pit aimed where it was going to land and fired right before the impact. The cloud of sand still rose, and Pit immediately left it, but before it even cleared, Viridi spoke up.

"Well, congratulations, Pit. I didn't actually expect you to win."

Pit smiled as he said, "Told you I had skills!"

Viridi laughed, "Well, you'll need rest after getting slapped around by my Clobbler. Also, you need a bath. You're covered in sand, and I can smell you from here."

Pit gasped and clasped his hands together, "Does that mean there's a hot spring?! Please tell me there is!" He hadn't seen one when he was exploring with Don earlier.

Viridi was slightly weirded out by the strong reaction, "Uh, yes?"

"Yes!" Pit cheered. "I'm going to go find it!" Completely forgetting how tired he was, Pit dashed off through the hole in the wall that the Clobbler had made and could be seen retreating down the hall past the stone portcullis. Viridi hadn't bothered to restore that new hole, since one way or another, the match was going to be over soon at the time.

With Pit gone, Viridi paused in confusion before waving her hand, dismissing her troops in the stands and her commanders. She stayed in her throne, though. Viridi tilted her head as she put a finger to her temple. The angel just seemed stranger and stranger the longer she knew him.

'During battle, he was completely focused and coordinated, even being able to afford playing around with one of my Bladers before finishing off the round with no further damage. He even got through three of my best troops, as a group, all with quick thinking and even somewhat of a sacrifice play, taking a major hit to take out my Flage while he had the chance. And no tricks or strategies ever worked on him twice.' She thought.

'But off the battlefield, he acts like a dorky, sweet kid (who loves hot springs), like he's just a regular person instead of a skilled warrior.'

Viridi shook her head as she stood up and left the arena herself. Perhaps she would have more time to observe and think on the curious angel while he was staying at her sanctuary.


	5. Chapter 4: Be Careful What You Wish For

**Sorry for the month-plus wait! I've just been busy with school work, other fanfictions, etc. I wish I could give a better excuse, but I can't. So, let's leave it as water under the bridge and move on to the next chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Be Careful What You Wish For

Pit let out a long sigh of relaxation as he soaked in the massive hot spring of Viridi's sanctuary. He had already removed what was left of his toga, but he kept his armor undersuit, leather armguards, greaves and sandals on out of habit. He held up his formerly broken leg and flexed it for good measure. Totally healed.

'Man, hot springs are _so_ awesome,' Pit thought as he sunk down to have his nose just above water, letting the warmth envelop him. But there was still something that was bugging him.

'What was with that dream that I had?' he thought. 'Did I have a dream? I feel like it was something really important… C'mon, Pit! Think! What was it about? Finding Lady Palutena could hinge on recalling this dream, so focus!'

After thinking hard and blowing bubbles in the hot spring, he remembered that he'd been fighting Medusa. His eyes opened, and he stopped blowing bubbles. After he'd had an epiphany about what his dream might've meant, he stood up quickly, splashing water over the edge, and clenched his fists in determination.

'That's it! If I defeat Medusa, then I'll surely find Lady Palutena again!' Pit thought to himself.

A voice he recognized spoke up, "How boring. I thought I'd get a nice view, but you're still dressed. Who bathes wearing armor?"

"Hmph, I'll have you know Angel Code mandates that angels always be ready for battle," he said, knowing full well who it was. First she mocked his rallying routine, and now this! He turned, continuing, "And apparently, it's also good for thwarting per-" he was cut off when he noticed her only attire being a towel.

"Pervert?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Look who's talking. Close your mouth, you'll catch flies."

Pit closed his mouth and held a hand over his eyes, "Why're you-?!"

"This is the only hot spring in the entire sanctuary, so of course it's mixed bathing," the blonde answered. Pit stood paralyzed as he heard the sound of water splashing as she got in the hot spring not far from him. "Ha, does it ruffle your feathers that much? What, you've been an angel for _how_ long, and you've never seen a naked girl before?"

Pit rifled around the rim for what was left of his toga, still covering his eyes, "No, there are no other angels, and there were only the Centurions, who are all male. AnywayIthinkIhearViridicallingme, okay, bye!" Once he felt his hands grip the fabric fragments, he stepped over the rim and bolted in the direction of the entrance, opening his fingers a crack to see where he was going. The teenage girl laughed as he went.

Once Pit was far enough away, he slapped his face lightly with his free hand to clear his mind and get back to what he was thinking. 'Okay. That happened. Moving on. Medusa. Take down Medusa. But…' He took a quick look at himself.

"I'm still decently fit, but I haven't had a good fight for 23 years, except for that tournament just now," he thought aloud. "All I've had to fight with were the Centurions, and I could take 2 entire battalions of them by myself. Twinbellows was far bigger and stronger than I remember. If Medusa's gotten that much stronger too…"

The thought of that was unnerving. The Three Sacred Treasures' ability to destroy evil would help even the score, but it wouldn't mean anything if his skills were so rusty that he lost to Queen of the Underworld's lapdog.

Pit took a deep breath and ran off to find one of Viridi's troops, so he could find Viridi. He needed to talk to her.

* * *

Viridi was walking through her garden, seeing to the recovery of her troops. The plant-type ones had taken root in the dirt, except for the Dibble Dop which attached himself to a nearby vine on the tree and the Blader which merged her feet with the branch and stood on it as the nutrients from the earth restored her.

There was also a pond which was made of a clear cytoplasm that comprised the Pip and the Blader. They both had already absorbed some of the cytoplasm to restore themselves and left until they had new orders. The two cell creatures could both use the clear cytoplasm; their individual tints of color were just Viridi's preference.

In a large fire nearby, Captain Flare's superhero suit sat in the middle of it in a meditative position, right on top of the wood. His cape was laid nearby and his usual smiling head was vanished from the suit, despite its upright posture. Soon, though, the fire started curling in, and the suit stood up by itself, widening its stance and flexing its arms in a "power up" pose as the fire was sucked into the hole for the head. Once the last bits of fire were pulled into the suit, Captain Flare's smiling fireball head popped out of the suit back into place. He saluted Viridi before bending over to grab his cape and leaving as he put it back over his shoulders.

Viridi continued watching over her troops. Ordinarily they'd restore on their own, but, being the Goddess of Nature, ground that she was near became more fertile. So her being there let the troops heal faster. It wasn't like she had much better to do.

"Ah, there! Thank you."

Viridi glanced towards the source of the voice and her eyes widened at the sight of Pit in just his navy blue undersuit with his hair still wet from the hot spring. He didn't notice, since he was waving bye to the Nutski that led him to Viridi's garden. The formfitting under armor left little to the imagination as it hugged against Pit's lean… muscular… Viridi quickly turned her attention back to her healing forces, ordering the heat in her face to cool.

"Excuse me. Lady Viridi?" Pit asked as he walked up behind her.

She didn't turn around and said in an irritated tone, "What is it? Can't you see that I'm busy tending to my troops?"

"Sorry," Pit said. "But I wanted to ask you something. Could you allow me to spar with your forces?" Viridi's previous embarrassment vanished as she turned around to look at Pit with a confused expression.

"Come again?"

Pit scratched the back of his head, "Well, you see, even though I won in the tournament, it was still my first real battle in 23 years, so I'm kinda a little rusty."

' _That_ was a LITTLE _RUSTY_?!' Viridi thought incredulously. Just what kind of fights did this angel go through?!

"So I was wondering if you'd let me train with your troops," Pit asked, oblivious to Viridi's surprise. He did, however, get worried when Viridi stared at him before getting a devious smile on her face.

" _Sure_ ," Viridi answered in a sickly sweet tone. "I'll let you train with my forces. Just remember, _you_ asked for it. It'll be at noon tomorrow. One of the Nutskis can lead you to the training ground if you want to go through some warm-ups tonight. I'd advise eating a large breakfast tomorrow morning. It'll be quite a workout."

Pit felt a slight chill down his spine from her tone, and it didn't go away when she raised an eyebrow and said, "Well? Did you need something else?"

"Uh, no thanks…" Pit tentatively answered. "I think I'll take you up on your offer and go do some warm-ups…"

Pit ran off, still unsettled by Viridi's smile. After he was gone, Viridi sent out a telepathic notice to a special member of her troops.

* * *

Pit spent the rest of the day warming up in a wide grassy field that was considered the Forces of Nature's training grounds. He did stretches, push-ups, ran a couple laps around the field and practiced his aim with some self-restoring targets. Shortly after getting dinner that evening, he went to bed.

When the sun rose, he woke up and was surprised to find himself still in the ward where he fell asleep. Shrugging, he grabbed his newly repaired toga that he'd left near the door and went to get breakfast. Remembering Viridi's warning, he got a few extra helpings of beans with his eggs and whole-wheat pancakes with all-natural maple syrup. Luckily, being an angel, Pit didn't have to worry much about getting gas.

After he was done, he decided that he didn't have much better to do, so he decided to go out into the field and do some light exercises and more target practice. The sun climbed higher in the sky as Pit did these warm-ups.

Once the sun was at its highest point, Viridi came into the training field herself, her patrol having reported that Pit was already there. Pit looked up from the 10th one-handed push-up he'd done and then pulled his feet in to stand up before turning to Viridi.

"Good morning, Lady Viridi," Pit said with a slight bow.

Viridi nodded in response, "I see that you've already been warming up before training."

"Yup. So who am I up against?" Pit asked, rotating his right shoulder to loosen up the muscles in his shooting arm. "Some Bladers? Or maybe another kind of troop I haven't seen yet?"

"No," Viridi responded. "You've already proven that unless I fill this entire training field with my troops, you won't get off with more than a few scratches. You'll be fighting against someone else. But first, to put things into perspective, your first opponent will be me."

Pit raised an eyebrow, seeming confused. He cleared his throat, "Um, Lady Viridi? I mean no disrespect, but I'd rather not fight you."

"Really, why? I thought you never backed down from a fight," Viridi taunted.

"Well, first, you've shown me a lot of kindness by letting me stay here," Pit answered. Then he looked down at the field he was standing on as he continued, "Second, I get the feeling I'm at a slight disadvantage, since you could probably give the phrase 'blade of grass' a whole new, very painful, meaning. All over. I am literally standing in a huge green and brown weapon of yours."

"What if I took you to a stone arena?"

"You're the Goddess of Nature, I'm sure you could grow more than grass to use in a fight."

"Are you _that_ scared of a little girl?"

"Again, you're a goddess. You could be a hundred, a thousand, or even five years old and I'd never know."

Viridi was surprised at his humble attitude. She had taken him to be somewhat arrogant, but evidently he knew his place in terms of power and ability. She was expecting to have to put him there, not that she would've minded doing so.

"Hmph, fine," she said. "Then we'll proceed as normal. Your first opponent should be here in a minute. He's a little slow with walking."

"Slow?" Pit asked. "Is it another Clobbler?"

Viridi raised an eyebrow, "You think I'd let a Clobbler walk free after the damage it did to the arena?"

Huh. When she put it that way, it seemed fairly obvious. Soon, though, Pit heard the thudding footsteps. Then he felt the tremors from each step. From the main part of the sanctuary nearby, the massive rock golem that Pit had seen in the stands yesterday stomped out towards the field. Pit's eyes widened and Viridi spoke up with a smile.

"Pit, meet one of my commanders, Cragalanche the Mighty!"

The golem stomped onto the field and stopped a short distance away from Pit. Gulping, Pit tried to ignore how sturdy Cragalanche looked. Viridi had said herself that he was slow, so he should be able to run circles around this golem! 'Piece of cake…' Pit thought nervously.

"Oh, _really_?" Viridi said. Pit mentally slapped himself. He should've known better than to think that!

Viridi crossed her arms, "Then how about we even the score? This is supposed to be about _you_ getting stronger, after all. Armguards and greaves off."

Pit tried to recover, "I-I didn't mean-"

"Hm, I guess you don't want training," Viridi said, turning to walk away.

"No no no! I do!" Pit said, waving his hands. "Just gimme a minute."

Once Pit unfastened the leather armor protecting his limbs, the Goddess of Nature pointed a finger at the ground and some oddly shaped gray rocks sprouted in a circle around Pit. Moving her finger to point at Pit, the rocks converged on him as he shouted in surprise.

The stones formed a new set of armor over him. Two large pieces formed into a heavy Spartan-style cuirass with holes for his wings to go though, including a stone plate skirt covering his upper legs. The smaller pieces snapped around his arms and legs, forming new armguards and greaves which weighed his limbs down, and his head, covering everything but his eyes in a stone mask with holes over his mouth and nose for him to breathe through. The armor weighed him down considerably, forcing the arm holding his First Blade to be pointed slightly towards the ground, even if he struggled to lift the arm all the way. Although, it wasn't so heavy that he couldn't remain standing. And after grabbing his shooting arm with his other arm he managed to support it enough to aim straight.

Viridi started walking off with a smile on her face, "You two play nice~"

Pit strained his neck to tilt his head up to look at Cragalanche, muttering, "Okay, Pit, think positive. At least this suit of armor'll protect you when you get slapped around…" Once he was looking Cragalanche in the eye, he said, "So… Cragalanche. Not gonna lie, you seem pretty solid… in both senses of the word, heh heh…"

"…" Cragalanche said nothing, but Pit got the vague feeling of being slightly amused. It seemed that his ivy was having a hard time picking up what Cragalanche was feeling. Maybe it didn't work so well on rocks.

"Well, okay," Pit said, holding up his First Blade with his supported arm. "Guess it's time to start training."

Still silent, Cragalanche wound his fist back and Pit started moving, being considerably slower. Cragalanche's arm extended and clipped Pit on his side, spinning him and knocking him down. It was no surprise, since Pit trying to run resulted in a speed barely higher than his walk. Heck, the golem probably could've gotten a direct hit.

"Heh, thanks for taking it easy on me," Pit said as he struggled to pick himself up in the stone suit. It was going to be a loooooong training session…

* * *

 **Done! Hope this chapter was worth the wait. School, life, etc. has been getting in the way of writing, and it'll probably be another month before I get a chance to write the next chapter, unfortunately. See you all when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	6. Chapter 5: Training From the Underworld

Chapter 5: Training from the Underworld

'This. Is. Torture,' Pit thought pitifully (har har).

He nursed his sore muscles as he got back from another training session with Cragalanche, stumbling towards the mess hall. Viridi seemed to be taking full advantage of the saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." This was his fifth training session with the golem, and Pit had finally gotten back to his top speed with the rock armor.

So Viridi switched it to a denser material, bringing Pit back to square one.

And as if that wasn't enough, some sore muscles were the least of Pit's worries. Viridi was quite clear that starting tomorrow, she'd start rotating which of her commanders he'd be training with. He remembered them, Arlon and… Pit didn't recall the blond teen telling her name. Whatever, he knew of her.

He honestly didn't know what to expect from the old gentleman, but he had the feeling that the girl had lightning powers if her scarf was any indication.

Shambling to the food line, he picked a piece of vegetable quiche, some mashed sweet potatoes and a couple slices of lean brisket with a green apple. He'd gained an appreciation for Viridi's vegetarian dishes, even though there were other foods. It was a creative way to eat vegetables, and it was better than when Palutena tried to get the angel to eat them. He still wouldn't go near any eggplants, though.

Pit finished his dinner and went to sleep for the night, trying to will his muscles to heal faster. He woke up the next morning and made his way back to the training ground, still a little stiff, but better than last night.

When he reached the field, he found Viridi there alone, which was odd, since Cragalance was an early riser. Pit wasn't even really sure if the golem actually slept. He'd tried asking Cragalanche about himself, but the rock warrior wasn't much for conversation, even through the vine. He was mostly stoic in his demeanor and mindset. To add to the change, there was a hedge grown all around in a circle around a majority of the field. Viridi was waiting at the only gap.

"Glad to see you here early," Viridi said with that trademark half-grin. "And I have good news! Today, you won't have to wear the stone armor!"

"Really?" Pit asked hopefully.

"Right," Viridi answered. "Because today, you'll be doing a different kind of training." She pulled an oblong-shaped leaf with two fibers at the ends. Pit leaned closer to get a look and she let it go. The leaf flew the distance to Pit's face and tied itself over his eyes, the fibers stretching to tie at the back of his head.

"Ah!" Pit screamed as he pulled at the leaf. But despite his best efforts and the strength he'd gained from training with Cragalanche, the leaf only tightened from his attempts.

He heard Viridi's voice in his head, "That blindfold will loosen on its own over time. Once it's completely off, your training for the day will be complete. This'll train your senses and teach you to listen to your environment for signs of the enemy."

"Who am I training with?" Pit asked carefully.

Viridi laughed, "Oh, don't worry. You're not training with Cragalanche. He's too loud. And I honestly worry about leaving you alone and blindfolded with Phosphora. Your opponent will be Arlon. And since he's a gentleman that prefers a fair fight, he's wearing a bell to ease you into this."

As if to indicate his presence, there was a single jingle from a bell somewhere nearby.

"Ooookay," Pit said, somewhat less worried. "Is there some sort of goal here, or…?"

"Just try dodging his attacks," Viridi instructed. "Even better if you can land a hit on him yourself. Bye." Pit heard a shimmering sound, along with something he thought was the hedge gap closing, and he knew that he was alone with Arlon. Pit kept his First Blade close and at the ready. He felt his body would be more ready to act fast from the weighted training with Cragalanche.

He heard some grass get rustled nearby and shot at it.

"Good hearing," Arlon spoke mentally, to avoid giving away his position. "But it was merely the wind that time."

Pit gingerly stepped around the field, carefully registering what sounds were being made by him and what weren't. The angel's wings flapped nervously. He wasn't used to being blinded. He heard a jingle nearby and shot in its general direction, but the only sign it hit something was a bush being disturbed, followed by the sound of re-growing plants.

"Too far to your right," Arlon politely stated. Pit heard grass being rustled in a pattern behind him, like footsteps, and dashed forward. As he ran, he shot two shots behind him, but again only hit bushes.

"Too low. I jumped, but good work on the escape," Arlon encouraged. "Your instincts are sharp for one so young."

"Thanks," Pit replied. "Still, I'm used to seeing my opponents…"

"One should not be so dependent on one sense," Arlon gently lectured. "In any case, I will begin trying to attack you in earnest, so do prepare."

Pit strained his ears to listen for any sign of incoming attack. He heard the sound of the bell along with lasers being fired, one after another, so he started moving. He dodged most of them, but a few made solid hits on his torso.

After some time dodging, Pit went back on the offensive, noticing that there was a pattern of angles the attacks were coming from. He fired a flurry of shots and heard the bell ring again.

"Well played, Master Pit," Arlon commended. "I had to move quickly to dodge those. Still, firing in a straight line is ill-advised. You must try to corner your foe so they'll get hit no matter how they dodge."

"Right," Pit said. He used a Health Recovery to patch up the light burns from Arlon's lasers and readied himself to move again.

* * *

A few more weeks passed with Pit alternating between training with Cragalanche and Arlon. Viridi always upped the weight whenever Pit got used to the stone armor, and a few days ago, Arlon stopped using the bell after Pit learned to track by feeling the air currents with his wings. Even slight motions generated tiny ones that could be felt by his feathers if he concentrated. Regardless, Pit was relieved to have the sense training with Arlon to rest from the strength training with Cragalanche.

Pit was worried about Palutena, and tried contacting her through his laurel crown daily, but he still got no answer. He had asked Viridi to keep an eye out for any signs of attack from Underworld forces. The young captain would only be able to start tracking down Medusa when the Queen of the Underworld made the first move. In the meantime, he could only keep training.

Another new development was that Arlon started teaching Pit how to read and write after Viridi found out that the angel couldn't do that, as well as some basic schooling on mathematics. Arlon had said on the first day, "A warrior you may be, but a gentleman should not neglect his studies."

Today, Viridi had taken Pit to a different training ground, a barren one. She had also instructed him to leave his weapon behind. He was hesitant to do so, but he trusted her enough to not put him in any real danger.

Pit looked around, "Lady Viridi? Why are we here instead of at the other training ground?"

"It's target practice and I don't want a fire on my hands, that's why," Viridi answered.

Before Pit could ask why he had left his weapon behind for target practice, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and launched himself away from the spot he was standing at. Lightning struck the ground next to Viridi with a boom and Pit extended his wings as he tried to track who shot it. Besides Viridi there was only…

Pit looked up and saw Phosphora (he had learned her name from Arlon) floating in the air in a reclined position. She also had a smug grin on her face as she said, "Nice dodge, cutie."

Pit's face flushed as he growled and said, "She can _fly_ too? That is so not fair…"

"The new part of training is dodging attacks from an opponent that's faster than you," Viridi explained. "Training with Arlon should've helped enough."

Pit turned to the goddess, "I thought this was target practice."

"It is," Viridi answered with a smirk. "You're the target; so dodge."

Phosphora floated down to their level, still reclined as she teased, "I hope you can do better than dodging that slow bolt, little angel~"

Viridi held her staff a little tighter and said, "Phosphora, you have your instructions."

"I know, Mistress Viridi," Phosphora said with only a bit less taunt in her tone. "I won't hurt your guest _too_ badly." The Lightning Flash noticed Viridi's changed posture and filed it away. It could lead to some fun pranks later. When did Viridi bathe again?

"All right, Phosphora," Pit goaded. "Hit me with your best shot!"

Phosphora raised an eyebrow as storm clouds gathered overhead, "What, no rallying cry?"

Pit got ready to move as he looked up at the storm clouds, "You'd probably just zap me when I'm in the middle of-"

Pit felt a disturbance and jumped to the side as he saw a lightning bolt fly right from in front of him. It still grazed his side and he felt a new presence behind him and turned around. Phosphora was there now and electricity was buzzing around her. Pit held his side as he finished, "-my speech."

Phosphora shrugged, "I'm Phosphora the Lightning Flash, everyone seems slow to me. Can you blame me for being a little impatient?"

Pit's wings flapped in anticipation as he let go of his now numb side and got ready to move again. 'Now I see why Lady Viridi saved this leg of training for last. Arlon helped me sense her coming, and Cragalanche gave me the strength to move fast enough. If I did this first I'd be-'

Pit jumped and ran to avoid a chain of lightning bolts from above. 'Fried angel.'

The angel warrior had to wonder how long it would be and how strong he would get by the time Medusa finally acted.

Pit was shaken out of his thoughts as he was zapped out of nowhere. It wasn't as strong as he felt a lightning bolt would be, but it still stung. He fell to one knee and then looked up. Phosphora was standing next to him and still had her cocky expression, "Did I forget to mention I can charge the air around me with electricity?"

'I won't let this stop me!' Pit thought determinedly. He forced himself to stand and jump back to keep his distance. "Maybe, I wasn't really listening to you," he taunted in response. His everything was nearly numbed from the shock, but he wouldn't give up. He would get stronger to fight Medusa and save Lady Palutena!

* * *

Viridi watched from a grotto at the heart of her sanctuary. The rough stone walls lit with glowing green crystals, Viridi stood at a basin within a rock pillar that had glowing blue water. Within the surface of the water, she was watching Pit spar with Phosphora. The young angel was so determined. No matter how hard Viridi tried to stack the odds against him without seriously injuring him.

Viridi watched as Pit activated his Tirelessness during a particularly long chain of lightning bolts, using a Health Recovery as well. It was then that he discovered that Phosphora's power had a limit as well, needing rest if she used it too fast.

She had tried contacting Palutena as well, even leaving one time to visit Skyworld. If only to ask the Goddess of Light just what in the Underworld an angel, a privileged civilian by all standards of the afterlife, was doing taking up arms. With a power that literally knit his bones back together and restarted his heart just so he could fight a little longer.

But there was no answer. There was no Skyworld either. It had vanished from the skies of Overworld. The Goddess of Nature didn't have the heart to tell Pit that his goddess was gone. So she had tried to get him to give up on his own.

'What am I supposed to do with an angel without a Goddess that refuses to give up?' she thought. Then she felt a stinging in her side and willed the basin to show her where she felt the sting. An image of a group of lumberjacks came into view.

'Ugh… That's right, winter is coming,' Viridi groused internally. 'The humans will be gathering even more wood and fruit, competing with my first children for food, resources and shelter.' It really was not easy tolerating the humans taking from her children. But, in a distant cousin sense, they were still her children too. Even if they disrespected her by polluting her lands and rivers.

'It would be so easy to wipe out their pathetic species with my Reset Bombs,' the goddess thought offhandedly. No, she had to stay her hand. Only use the Reset Bombs on ruined cities to give her first children new places to inhabit or to purify damaged ecosystems by restoring them to their natural state. It was how she had always done things to prevent either of her children from dying out. It was the circle of life; for both sides.

Turning a blind eye, and ignoring the continuing stinging sensations in her side, Viridi turned her attention back to monitoring Pit's sparring. Oh, his toga got singed off again. The nature goddess swore that she had the outfit memorized by heart with how many times she'd had to mend it. Not that she actually used a needle, thread or loom, but still.

Viridi sighed through her nose as she wondered just what she would do with the little angel. He was growing on her, if she was honest with herself. She couldn't just kick him out in good conscience. Nor was she sure if she could actually help him go to battle if Medusa actually attacked like he was so sure she would.

'Honestly, I can't figure out what she would want with Overworld,' Viridi puzzled. Continuing out loud as she turned away from the basin, she said, "She's already the Queen of the Underworld, what more could she want? Sure, it's not the best place to be the queen of, and she's not the absolute ruler, but what?"

Viridi gave another glance to Pit's match, watching him cradle a burnt wing as he kept running before turning away.

"Hmm… Maybe I've been barking up the wrong tree." She thudded her staff on the ground and Captain Flare appeared. He genuflected at Viridi as she spoke, materializing a scroll into her hand.

"Go to the Underworld and deliver this to Hades," Viridi ordered. "Evidently his queen regnant is causing trouble, and I want to know what's going on."

Captain Flare took the scroll and fastened it to his belt before saluting and sweeping his cape over himself, vanishing in an instant.

Viridi pondered for a moment what to do while she waited for Hades' reply, but she was taken by surprise when Captain Flare fell – not appeared, fell – into the room. He was on his knees, his suit burned into a black and grey color, cape singed and head dimmed and flickering.

Viridi let out a hissing and crackling sound, that Captain Flare's true name, and said, "What happened?!"

'Attacked,' he answered mentally. 'I was attacked… the instant I appeared. Not going to… make it.'

"Don't say that!" Viridi tried dragging him away, "We just need to get you some firewoo-" She watched in horror as the arm she grabbed broke apart into ashes. Captain Flare's suit darkened further, along with the fire going out as he said, 'It's okay… I protected my cape. As long as you have it… Another can inherit the power and title…'

Captain Flare grinned one more time as his head was flickering away.

'Goodbye… Mother…'

The fire went out and his suit fell forward, crumbling into a pile of ashes. All that remained of the troop was the cape on the ground. Viridi didn't sniffle, but tears ran down her eyes as she picked up the cape and willed the ashes to condense into a crystal within the grotto. Unlike the others, this one glowed a bright orange.

She had seen more of her children die when their time was up. Animals, plants, humans, her troops, it was the circle of life. Nothing made by nature was meant to last an eternity. Viridi did, which left her as a mother that would watch all children new and old die. She had grown used to it over time, seeing it as a natural occurrence that would happen to everyone.

That didn't mean that it didn't hurt when they died before their time, though.

Viridi left her grotto, and went to her chambers. She could create a new envoy tomorrow. Pit would later wonder where Viridi had disappeared to when he was looking for her. Arlon would then offer to show Pit the Lunar Sanctum that he'd heard so much about. Pit would be fascinated and not ask any questions as he marveled at the orbiting fortress.

* * *

 **Finally! A new chapter that isn't Rocket's Rising! I hope that it was worth the wait and I'm glad to have finally gotten around to this.**

 **In any case, see you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	7. Chapter 6: A Deal Struck

**Welp, it's been precisely two months since I touched this story, what with school and focusing on finishing For the Mission. How's about we fix that?**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Deal Struck

Whoever said "Time flies when you're having fun" certainly meant it. While the training continuously tested Pit's limits, the young angel pulled through every time. Before long, he actually looked forward to sparring with each of Viridi's commanders.

Even with his First Blade beginning to falter, Pit trained every day for the past two years. Over his extended stay in Viridi's sanctuary, the young angel had begun to grow on the residents.

Cragalanche still remained as quiet as ever, but Pit learned to pick up on the subtle emotions of the golem. With that, the angel was able to understand what Cragalanche intended to say based on how he was feeling. Their spars had escalated from the golem trying to punch Pit to using his full arsenal of moves, including exploding boulders and burrowing underground. Cragalanche enjoyed his fights with Pit, not having anyone he could fight on equal terms with for quite a while, his fellow commanders being too agile for him to pin down, and their attacks being largely ineffective against his stone hide. Pit felt the same, as Cragalanche had assured him time and again that the young captain didn't have to pull punches like with the Centurions.

While studying under Arlon, Pit had gained the ability to read, write and carry out some fundamental calculations. The guardian of the Lunar Sanctum also informed Pit on some strategies and battle tactics, which fascinated him greatly. Among those lessons, he taught Pit to always keep composure in battle, how to analyze the battlefield in an instant and to save energy with proper breathing. With all of the lessons, Arlon impressed above all else to not grow overconfident. Always be on guard, _especially_ after a victory. Though he wouldn't say as much out loud, due to his polite nature, Arlon felt pride from helping Pit's education and sense training.

Phosphora still picked on the young angel, but in a more good-natured way. After nearly getting him killed by tricking him into going to the hot spring when Viridi was bathing, the lightning-user mellowed out. After the nature goddess "grounded" the Lightning Flash by having her powers temporarily restricted, Pit and Phosphora had a chance to talk on more even footing. Once the two started sparring again, they acted more like friendly rivals than enemies. He still couldn't land a hit on her when she was on top of her game, but he could occasionally predict her next position and make her "try harder" to dodge, and Pit's constitution still overshadowed hers. Phosphora still flirted with Pit every now and again, leaving the young angel baffled and earning the ire of Viridi.

The Goddess of Nature still didn't know what to make of Pit's situation. She couldn't send anybody out to gather information, because Skyworld was gone and the Underworld was clearly hostile right now. Her scrying basin never told of any dangers to nature or, as she had started checking recently, human towns. But Pit himself especially struck her as odd.

Phosphora had told Viridi that Pit didn't know of any other angels. The angel wouldn't readily volunteer any information about himself at first. However, after the first few months passed, he willingly shared the earliest memory he could recall, but on the condition that Viridi would share something about herself.

* * *

 ** _Pit took a bite out of a green apple as he thought back to when he was an especially young angel. Even though he hadn't aged much since then, he remembered looking around five years old at his earliest memory._**

 ** _"_** ** _It happened 23 years ago, give or take," Pit explained. "I woke up in the deepest part of the Underworld with only an old enchanted bow next to me. It was a divine weapon that Lady Palutena managed to get to me with the last of her powers, so it didn't need any arrows, but… Yeah, it was a tough fight to get back to Skyworld, or Angel Land, as it was called at the time."_**

 ** _"'_** ** _Angel Land'?" Viridi asked disbelievingly._**

 ** _Pit shrugged, "Lady Palutena wasn't as creative back then, apparently. I had to fight my way back up to get to Medusa, collecting the Three Sacred Treasures from Twinbellows, the Hewdraw and Pandora along the way. And you know, it's weird… I remember Twinbellows being a lot smaller… I wonder if Medusa powered it up…"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Pit," Viridi urged, "the story."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, right! Anyway, once I got back to Skyworld and confronted Medusa in the Sky Palace – Quit looking at me like that! I don't name it! – I managed to defeat Medusa and rescue Palutena."_**

 ** _"_** ** _That's it?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Uh… Yeah." Pit answered. Then he smiled, "Okay, my turn!"_**

 ** _Viridi rolled her eyes at his eager attitude and said, "Fine; a deal's a deal. What do you want to know?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _So…" Pit ventured, "I've been curious."_**

 ** _Viridi raised an eyebrow, "What?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _You're the Goddess of Nature, right?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Yes."_**

 ** _"_** ** _So can you do bird calls?"_**

 ** _The goddess looked at Pit flatly, "I can communicate with every single living thing on a mental level. Why would I need to do bird calls?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _But can you?" Pit challenged._**

 ** _Viridi smirked, "All right, come closer and I'll whisper one in your ear."_**

 ** _Pit did so, and Viridi leaned close to his ear and took a breath in. When Pit heard a loud honking noise instead of a tweet, he jumped away, a hand over his ear from the volume._**

 ** _"_** ** _What was that?!"_**

 ** _"_** ** _An ostrich call," Viridi coyly answered. "So to answer your question, yes, I can do bird calls. I can speak the language of all my children, but I prefer to keep it mental. It's not dignified for a goddess to growl."_**

* * *

The Goddess of Nature snickered at the memory of her prank, and then continued poring over the glowing water in her grotto. Even after two years, with all the information she'd gotten out of Pit, she still couldn't figure him out.

When she had to drop a Reset Bomb on a badly deforested area around a year ago, he reacted with shock that she had such a powerful weapon. But the instant he'd found out she'd never used it on a (populated) town, he nodded and accepted that she did what she had to in order to ensure her children lived. He believed that she wouldn't turn on the humans.

'Determination and instincts of a warrior,' Viridi mentally listed, 'maturity of a goofy kid, and he's still somehow understanding of my situation to protect my children, so long as I don't touch humanity.'

'And his story…' Viridi thought. 'An entire "Land" full of angels shouldn't have just disappeared. He only mentioned Centurions being turned to stone by Medusa. That's not how it works. I always heard from Hades that it went one of four ways in the City of Souls. The worst souls, he hand-feeds to the soul-eating beast, the neutral souls still need to hide from the beast, but can either find their resting place or make the climb to the Rewind Spring to reincarnate, and the virtuous souls get made into angels and live at Skyworld.'

Her finger tapped a beat on the edge of the basin, 'Humanity isn't the highest on my list, but there have to be _some_ humans that are good enough for the reward. How can Pit be the only one? It doesn't make sense. Did Palutena raise the bar to get into Skyworld?'

Regardless of her confusion over the angel, she had grown to care about him. Not that she would ever, _ever_ admit it to him, but he felt like a member of her extended family now. If Medusa really did attack again, Viridi didn't really feel comfortable sending Pit into battle with the Queen of the Underworld. Sure he'd been training, but something didn't add up about his fighting with Medusa.

She cursed her lack of knowledge about the snake-haired ruler. 'All I've heard is that she has some sort of relation to Palutena, and that's it. More than that, if Pit really defeated her, how can she be back?'

The petite goddess let out an annoyed sigh as she changed the view to Pit's training for a brief moment. He and Cragalanche showed in the water's reflection, in the middle of one of their sparring matches.

'His First Blade is getting faulty,' Viridi observed. Then she thought, 'Hmm… If he goes back to Palutena – assuming Medusa has her like he claims – then it'll be a lot quieter around here. I might actually miss the little dork.'

Viridi shook her head. She felt like Pit should be protected like a rarity, and not for him being apparently the only angel in existence. He had an oddly innocent outlook for a warrior that fought his way from literally Hell at five years old. Viridi never really liked Palutena, and did her best to just ignore the Goddess of Light and tend to her own affairs, but Viridi felt this couldn't be ignored.

"Something's fishy about this," Viridi said to herself as she shifted the water's view again. "I get the feeling that Pit isn't safe with Palutena."

When the Goddess of Nature swept her hand over the water again, her eyes widened at the sight that appeared.

* * *

"C'mon, Cragalanche!" Pit encouraged. "Really put me through my paces!"

Pit dodged away as the ground burst and Cragalanche resurfaced. He fired a charge shot at the golem's stone hide, and Viridi's commander extended his arm in a sweeping motion to trip the angel up. Pit put all of his energy into a jump and barely managed to clear the massive appendage, leaving Cragalanche wide open. Pit fired a few more shots, barely doing any damage, but slowly wearing the stone warrior down.

Cragalanche used the momentum to keep spinning and face Pit again, getting ready to throw some explosive stones, but a mental command halted both of them.

'Stop the battle!'

Both warriors stopped in surprise at the command and turned to see Captain Flare had just arrived.

'Pit, Mistress Viridi has summoned you,' Captain Flare communicated as he waved for him to follow.

Pit's eyebrows shot up and he turned to Cragalanche, "I have to go. Is that okay?"

The angel received a feeling of urgency from the golem, and he nodded, "You're right. If she's calling me instead of coming to get me, it must be important."

Pit ran over as fast as the weighted armor allowed, and he said to the fire elemental, "So, am I supposed to follow you-"

He was interrupted as Captain Flare jumped up and swept his cape over him all the way to the ground, sweeping himself up in the same motion. For an instant Pit only saw stars everywhere with the figure of Captain Flare in front of him, facing away from him. Then he fell out of wherever he'd traveled through into a room of the sanctuary he'd never been in before.

"…or…what…?" Pit finished dazedly, shaking his head clear before standing and looking to see that the fire elemental stood behind him now and Viridi leaned over a stone pillar with a basin full of glowing blue water carved into the top.

"Pit…" Viridi called. "You might want to see this."

The young angel moved to stand next to Viridi and gasped when he saw a town under attack by Underworld forces, particularly the colosseum. The large stadium had fire dancing around the stands with smaller flames on a few of the other buildings.

"Twinbellows must be attacking again!" Pit said urgently. "Help me get out of this armor; I need to get over there!"

"You're not going."

Pit looked at Viridi incredulously, and the Goddess of Nature just wiped away the image. She shifted it to watch over the forests nearby, to make sure Twinbellows didn't start attacking them.

"What do you mean?" Pit asked. "I have to help the town or it'll be destroyed!"

"I don't care about humans being destroyed," Viridi replied.

"Not true," Pit denied. "If you really didn't care, then you would've Reset Bombed the human race a long time ago. Also, if you didn't care, why would you call me instead of just keeping it to yourself?"

Viridi rolled her eyes. Pit really had gotten smarter from Arlon's lessons. She glanced over her shoulder at him, "Unless that two-headed guard dog starts burning a forest, it's not my problem. You're not going and that's that."

"Viridi, please!" Pit implored. "I'm begging you; I _can't_ let another town burn to the ground when I can stop it!"

The Goddess of Nature pretended to mull it over as the conversation turned in her favor. She turned to face Pit, switching the water's image back to the burning town.

"As a 'Servant to the Goddess of Light,' you already have good publicity with the humans, don't you?" Viridi hedged.

Pit blinked and tilted his head, "I… guess? Why?"

"Because," Viridi explained, "while I've been lenient on the humans cutting down trees and have accepted their hunting as a part of the circle of life, I'm sick of them polluting my domain. I'll help you iron out this little Underworld problem, _if_ you become my ambassador to the humans."

"Uh…" Pit looked away, "I feel like I need Lady Palutena's approval… or a lawyer."

"Palutena's not here and that town is under attack _now_ ," Viridi reminded the angel. "Do we have a deal or not?"

Pit looked between the nature goddess and the image of the town under attack by Underworld forces. A large part within his mind said he shouldn't, but his desire to protect humanity won out. He extended his hand and Viridi planted her staff into the ground before reaching out and completing the handshake.

* * *

 **And that marks the end of the pre-game chapters! I'm glad to be back to writing my other stories and I'll try to update them as often as I can between school work. I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with this AU, and I'd appreciate a review to know how I'm doing.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	8. Chapter 7: The Advent of Viridi

**Hey! And now it's only been a little over 1 month since I updated this story. Glad that I managed to come full circle in my update schedule sooner than before.**

* * *

Chapter 7: The Advent of Viridi

Viridi smiled and said, "I'll have Arlon draw up a contract later. For now, we need to pick you a weapon."

Without breaking the handshake, the nature goddess picked up her staff and warped both of them to the Arms Altar. The Urgle operating the crank waved at Pit, who waved back, even though he mainly focused on going to stop Twinbellows.

Viridi went to a shelf near the wall which had many weapons, all made out of natural materials, such as stone, wood, fire, and sometimes even whole plants or animal attributes.

"Let's see," Viridi mused. "What'll be a good weapon? Twinbellows isn't nearly as fast as Phosphora, and even Arlon could beat it with ease, but they don't need weapons."

Before the goddess could make her decision, thudding footsteps shook the floor and Cragalanche appeared in the doorway, face stoic as ever.

Pit looked and smiled slightly, still focused on the coming battle, "Hey Cragalanche. I'm off to go fight Twinbellows as soon as Viridi picks a weapon for- Oof!"

The angel didn't flinch, but still got the wind knocked out of him slightly from catching the stone weapon that Viridi's commander tossed. Pit looked at the design: cylindrical, likely a cannon, made of stone and ringed with crystals at the opening near the front.

Before Pit could comment, he got a message from Cragalanche—feeling of urgency, respect and a touch of worry.

The captain of Palutena's guard nodded, "I'll stay safe, Cragalanche. I'm a lot stronger than before. Thanks for the weapon; no way I can lose now!" Pit flashed a confident smile as he equipped the cannon and the golem nodded before solemnly stomping off.

"Well I guess you can use Cragalanche's cannon while I pick out your allotted arsenal," Viridi thumped her staff on the ground and a door made out of stone appeared in the wall outside the armory.

"Right!" Pit said determinedly. "Time to move out!"

He ran with the stone cannon, not hindered in the slightest due to his specialized training with its owner. The doors opened and Pit jumped out before his wings became encased in a green glow, lifting him up. Viridi warped back to her grotto to monitor his mission via her scrying basin.

Pit flew for only a few moments before some Underworld forces, Monoeyes, appeared and started shooting at him. The captain expertly dodged the attacks before firing a boulder from the cannon on his right arm. Having taken aim at the center Monoeye, Pit smiled as the missile detonated, taking down three at once.

Pit kept firing, yelling excitedly with each shot, "This! Cannon! _Rocks_!"

 _"_ _Ugh, seriously?"_ Viridi groaned in his head, even though she smiled slightly in reality. _"Just focus on your targets. You seem to have the basics down, so I won't bother you with them. The power of flight only lasts five minutes, so I'm taking you right to the town. Cut off the head and the body'll flounder."_

"Uh, I disagree," Pit replied as he shot down more Monoeyes. "I've fought a disembodied head before, and the body was _not_ floundering. It was…"

When Pit went silent, Viridi changed the view to see what Pit saw and the scrying basin showed the sky tinted red as a giant hand rose from beneath the clouds. An astral projection of the Underworld's queen appeared, eyes glimmering as she stood with the clouds at her waist.

Pit growled, "Medusa!"

"Hello there, Pit," the gorgon greeted smugly. "I didn't expect you to crash my homecoming party without your goddess. Who's lifting your wings now, flightless angel?"

 _"_ _He's with me!"_ Viridi answered. _"And you call this a party?"_

"Ah… the nature goddess," Medusa chuckled. "What better way to celebrate my return than with a festive little bloodbath? After all, I _have_ been gone for 25 years."

The queen's projection chuckled before vanishing. Pit looked at the Monoeyes moving underneath the cloud cover.

"They're moving their attack to the ground!"

 _"_ _Already on it."_

The angel's flight path dipped under the veil and he flew by a lake while dealing with the monsters in his way. Viridi noticed that Pit sulked slightly and said, _"Pit, what's with the glum look?"_

"Ugh…" Pit groaned. "It's just _embarrassing_ to be an angel that can't fly on his own." But then he smiled, "So thanks for your help! I couldn't do it without you."

Viridi blushed but kept her mental voice under control as she replied, _"Just remember your half of the deal, Pit. Anyway, the power of flight can only be held up for five minutes, so we'd better get you there fast."_

"There's the town!" Pit reported. "They're attacking the humans! This is terrible!"

 _"_ _All right, I'm bringing you in!"_

His wings flashed as Pit got pulled ahead even faster. Once he cleared the city's wall, he started shooting the lesser monsters attacking the buildings. Down below, the people saw him flying through the air and cheered. Even with some of their buildings on fire, they still had hope.

"The humans," Pit said joyfully. But the cheer was dampened slightly as he recalled that his goddess didn't stand behind him. "They think… that Lady Palutena has returned."

 _"_ _Won't they be in for a surprise when this crisis blows over?"_ Viridi slightly chuckled. _"Alright, that's the last of the air troops. I've spotted Twinbellows! Get ready to land!"_

"Roger!" Pit replied as the last monster got struck down by the cannon's fire. His wings carried him towards the ground at breakneck speed.

The angel artfully flipped through the air and his wings beat once more to slow his descent before his feet touched the cobbled path of the city. He looked around, instantly taking in the features of his location. A sequestered portion where he couldn't get sneak attacked with only one path out. As Pit ran through the path, he snatched a green apple that appeared in mid-air and ate it to keep his energy up. Once he finished he threw the core away for it to vanish, likely to Viridi's compost bin.

Turning into the city's main district, Pit found Twinbellows rampaging through the streets, smashing houses and causing humans to flee from the relative safety of their homes. He looked as fearsome as the captain remembered fighting two years ago.

He stood as tall as the houses that he attacked with flames dancing in a mane around his two heads along with his shins and tail. Bones protruded from the guard dog's back in some grotesque form of armor, along with tube-like protrusions that shot fire into the sky, and green eyes glowed above his razor sharp teeth and spiked collar on both his heads. A manacle and segment of chain glinted in the sunlight as the canine monster raised a massive paw to attack the family that retreated from their now burning home.

Pit immediately activated Tirelessness to keep running and jumped in front of the family that Twinbellows bore down on.

The humans screamed, but Pit blocked Twinbellows' swiping claws with the cannon and urgently told the humans, "Get out of here! Get to safety!"

They let out a sigh of relief at the sight of angel wings and ran away while the young captain strained and pushed the giant paw away. Pit narrowed his eyes, staring down the giant monster.

"Twinbellows," Pit seethed. "Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."

Twinbellows only growled in response. In his peripheral vision, the angel could see the remaining inhabitants of the district taking the chance to flee while he held the guard dog's attention, so he kept talking.

"That's _right_ , you can't talk," Pit said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as he walked casually to the side, subtly directing both Twinbellows' heads to look at him and not at the fleeing humans. "I wonder what goes through those two heads of yours. Is it two brains or is it half for each? Is one of your heads more creative than the other?"

Twinbellows roared and fired a flaming projectile at his opponent, but Pit batted it away with his stone weapon. Only the monster's quick duck made the returned missile hit his armor instead of his head.

"Come _on_ , doesn't the saying go 'two heads are better than one'?" the angel mocked, moving again so the other side of the district could evacuate. "Do you really think I just twiddled my thumbs after my last defeat?"

The canine monster became engulfed in flames and charged straight at Pit, but he dodged out of the way easily, making Twinbellows embed himself in an empty house. Compared to Phosphora, the two-headed dog moved like a sloth through molasses. Pit felt he could win this fight even with his eyes closed, but Arlon had always lectured him that risky gambits like that got warriors killed.

Pit glanced back and saw the last of the residents flee the district and he smiled, glad to fight without worrying about them as Twinbellows pulled out of the now flaming house.

The Underworld guard dog breathed two streams of fire at the angel, but he ran to the side and fired some exploding stones at the monster. Twinbellows tried dodging, but the wide spread didn't allow for escape and all three boulders exploded against his body, one even striking the side of his right head.

In response, Twinbellows jumped into the air, aiming to stomp Pit, but the angel just waited while he approached and then fired a charged shot between the monster's descending heads before clearing out of the area. The cobblestone cracked as Twinbellows landed unevenly as a result of Pit's timely shot and fell bodily to the ground.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Pit taunted.

Viridi spoke up in his mind, _"Will you quit messing around and just finish the job? You have better things to do than toying with your opponent."_

"Alright, alright," Pit replied. After that he charged up another shot at the recovering Underworld gatekeeper, "Twinbellows! Play dead!"

He fired the shot between Twinbellows' heads again and the monster's faces were obscured by the explosion as he reeled back on his legs from the impact. The two-headed dog exploded into a swirling pillar of purple light with a howling sound.

Once the beacon vanished, Medusa's apparition appeared in the distant sky with an echoing chuckle.

"Listen well, Medusa!" Pit shouted. The angel held up his fist in defiance, "Your days of darkness are numbered! Prepare to meet the light!"

The Underworld queen's apparition just disappeared without comment, still possessing that smug smirk, much to Pit's ire.

Regardless, with the town safe, Pit let out a breath of relief. Humans started coming back into the district.

"An angel… back at last!"

"The Goddess of Light has returned!"

Pit turned to address the growing crowd, "Um… About that…"

"We are saved! The Underworld will claim no more of us!"

Viridi's voice echoed over the town, "I'm afraid I don't do freebies."

An astral projection of the Goddess of Nature appeared in the skies behind Pit, looking down at the humans. Smirking, Viridi said, "Tell them, Pit."

"I'm… afraid that the goddess Palutena is… missing," Pit reported to the humans with a heavy sigh. Then he looked up, "But Lady Viridi, the Goddess of Nature, has graciously lent me her assistance to help you in exchange for my help with negotiating her terms."

Inwardly, Pit felt proud of his expanded vocabulary from Arlon's lessons and learning to read.

"Er…" One of the eldest inhabitants – the town leader, perhaps – stepped forward, "Terms…?"

Pit nodded, "Yes. Not much, mind you. She merely asks that you treat her domain, the forests and freshwater bodies, such as rivers, with more respect. Lady Viridi claims that there's a littering problem, and it's caused her undue distress."

The town elder let out a sigh of relief, "Is that it? We can fix that. Even if some people slip on that rule, we'll organize a clean-up crew."

"I'm glad to hear that," Viridi replied from her position behind Pit. With a wave of her staff, a scroll appeared in the angel's hand. "If your council will just sign that, then I'll keep your town safe with my Forces of Nature."

The goddess' apparition disappeared as she shifted to telepathy with the elder man while Pit handed the scroll over with a smile, _"But if you break our agreement, I will make my displeasure known."_

'Er… Don't worry. I can't speak for the rest of the council, but I know better than to anger a goddess…' the man replied with a gulp as he began taking the scroll to a group of men for them to sign.

He handed the scroll back shortly afterwards and Pit said, "Alright, Lady Viridi, are you going to call me back?"

 _"_ _Actually, no,"_ Viridi replied. _"We should probably make a few more stops and let the other towns know how things are going to be with their protection. Spread the word, you know? Get others to sign the contract."_

'I've actually been meaning to ask about that,' Pit commented nervously. 'Didn't you say something about Arlon drawing up a contract for me?'

 _'_ _I never said it was for you,'_ Viridi retorted. _'It's the humans I don't trust to keep their word, not you, Pit. Anyway, we'd better move on to the next town.'_

"I thought you said the power of flight could only last five minutes," Pit said aloud, making the townspeople regard him curiously until the elder explained about the mental conversation.

 _"_ _Don't worry, I'll send a Lurchthorn to pick you up,"_ Viridi commented.

Pit blinked and replied, "Hold up, a what?"

To answer, a shimmer of green light summoned a flying, segmented worm-like monster made of stone linked by branches. Red eyes shone between the cracks in his stone body and a single thorn protruded from the segments on the top and bottom. His head had a yellow eye glancing about between the cracks of his stone visage and a dorsal spike upon his head with two spikes protruding on the sides and a spiked chin and nose.

The Lurchthorn glanced around the humans, causing them to freeze up before he spotted Pit and docilely lowered his head to the ground for the angel to climb on. Pit eyed the monster nervously, but he trusted Viridi, so he gingerly climbed up and found a pretty comfortable spot on the natural creature's head between the branches that formed his neck and the stones guarding his face. Behind the stone, the Lurchthorn actually had somewhat pliable flesh, so Pit settled himself comfortably and held onto the side spikes for support.

"Um… up?"

The Lurchthorn took towards the sky like a rocket and Pit screamed for a few moments before it dissolved into laughter.

"WOOOOOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!"

Once they passed through a cloud and leveled out in the sky, the captain shook off the excess moisture and asked, "Alright, Viridi, where are we going next?"

* * *

Viridi's Lurchthorn (whose name sounded strikingly similar to stone splitting) escorted Pit to various towns, having him explain the conditions for Viridi's protection from the Underworld forces. When Pit got hungry in the middle of the day, Viridi teleported some food on a plate for him.

By the end of the day, Pit came back to the sanctuary. He looked worn out, but he had a slight smile on his face.

"Phew… who knew just talking with people all day could be so tiring?" Pit wondered.

The young angel barely had time to get some food for dinner before he went back to his room and promptly fell asleep, leaving the Cragalanche Cannon (as he had dubbed it) leaned against the wall.

As the sun completely set and the moon rose, his door softly creaked open at midnight. Viridi walked in, forgoing her staff to move more quietly. It likely wasn't necessary, since Pit still hadn't overcome a major weakness since his arrival at Viridi's sanctuary.

He slept _far_ too heavily for his own good.

The Goddess of Nature snuck to Pit's bedside, watching him sleep for a moment in his full combat regalia. Her eyes turned to the golden laurel crown that she had never seen him take off during his stay.

Viridi didn't like metal. Stone and crystal, yes; ores, fine. But metal never returned any life signs. It felt like a mockery of her empathy with nature that she couldn't sense metal the same way she could all living things in nature.

So it made her worry that Pit wore metal around his head 24/7.

Earlier today had been a test. She mentioned a contract in passing and Pit suddenly acted more serious around her, aside from the occasional lame pun or quip (that certainly did _not_ make her hold in a laugh). The instant he found out it wasn't for him, he returned to his old self, casually speaking with her along the way and badgering her to know what weapons she would pick out for him.

Viridi knew well that even touching the false laurels likely wouldn't end well; much less trying to remove them, no matter how much Pit looked dead to the world. So she reached out with her mind to something she _could_ control.

Focusing her mind on the piece of vine that allowed Pit to communicate with her forces, the Goddess of Nature set to work.

* * *

 **…** **I feel like if I try to be coy in the author's note, it might give people ideas and accidentally spoil what I have planned.**

 **So I'll just say see you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	9. Chapter 8: Gaol and the Dark Lord

**I switched the title around because that's how Zodiac Kid did it, by my memory, and I saw no reason to change it.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Gaol and the Dark Lord

Pit woke up the next morning and saw some breakfast already by his bed with a scroll. He took the missive and unrolled it.

'Eat up and get ready for battle. Today, we take the attack to the Underworld forces before your diplomatic duties. Viridi,' the angel read to himself.

While he scarfed down the breakfast, Pit looked to the wall where he left the Cragalanche Cannon. His jaw nearly dropped, but he didn't want to lose any food. So he swallowed, and _then_ let his jaw drop.

Lined up against the wall alongside the stone cannon, eight more weapons had made their way to Pit's room. From left to right, Cragalanche's gift being the rightmost, a purple scaly blade with menacing spikes and features, a club made out of gnarled wood wrapped around a metal handle with spikes jabbing out through the bark, a floating mass of dark mist containing some crescent moons floating (likely a palm-type weapon), a wooden staff with thorny vines entwined over it and rose flowers operating as the hand guard, a metal and stone arm seeming to emit intense heat if the red glowing metal was any indication, a set of pink-tipped brown claws with same-colored thorns on the wrists and the same flower that adorned Viridi's dress on the back of the hand, a light blue bow that paled and sparked with electricity toward the ends and a pair of orbitars that seemed modeled after the Lunar Sanctum that Arlon had shown Pit.

The young captain noticed some labels that had courteously been placed (likely by Arlon) to mark the respective weapons. 'Viper Blade, Ogre Club, Midnight Palm, Rose Staff, Volcano Arm, Viridi Claws, Phosphora Bow, Arlon Orbitars, this is so _cool_!' Pit internally cheered.

Some part of him in the back of his mind argued that he shouldn't let himself become even more indebted to Viridi, but Pit shoved that part aside, confused about why he would even think it.

"It's not like she's asking much of me," he reasoned. "And I get to use these awesome weapons to fight the Underworld forces!"

The angel held each weapon, trying to get a feel for wielding them and decided that the Viper Blade felt the most comfortable right now until he could get some practice with all of them on the training field.

Snatching the wheat roll off of his plate to finish off his meal, Pit ate it as he ran down the hallway towards the Arms Altar and the new door that Viridi installed. As it swung open, he popped the last bit of bread in his mouth and jumped out the portal before the power of flight grabbed his wings.

"And we're off!" the captain cheered through his mouthful.

 _"_ _Didn't Arlon teach you not to talk with your mouth full?"_ Viridi asked.

Pit recalled that lesson and finished off the food before saying "Sorry." He then noticed the stormy clouds with lightning striking through them, "Ugh, this weather's nasty!"

 _"_ _Where you're going, the weather's always nasty to act as camouflage,"_ Viridi informed. _"The good news is not too many monsters will be able to find you in it. You're on your way to defeat Dark Lord Magnus."_

"Heh," Pit laughed while shooting Monoeyes down with bright purple dart-like shots. "'Dark Lord'? Seriously? Hasn't the dark lord thing been done to death already?"

Viridi rolled her eyes back in her sanctuary, _"It has. But those monsters are coming from_ his _castle, so I guess he's earned it. A human army has gone to fight him, but they're about as threatening as a bunny to him."_

The angel defeated a line of Syrens as he raised an eyebrow, "So what you're saying is that we need a brave hero to face the dark lord?"

 _"_ _The oldest story on the shelf,"_ the goddess agreed as she watched Pit weave through some Miks while slashing them with the Viper Blade's poisonous edge. _"But don't get careless. As unoriginal as it is, Magnus probably didn't get his title by planting flowers and petting kittens."_

"So what are we talking here?" he asked while turning to engage Monoeyes and Miks that tried to flank him. "Miniboss? Final boss? Well, whatever," Pit shot a pair of Ganewmedes in the eye before cutting them down. "I hope this dark lord's hungry for a hot plate of punishment!"

Viridi continued directing Pit through the stormy weather, dodging cyclones that formed while he focused on taking down any monsters that tried to attack him. But when lightning struck, Viridi cursed while Pit barely dodged one.

 _"_ _Another one of the Underworld's anti-air measures,"_ the Goddess of Nature grumbled. _"Looks like we'll have to abandon our cover and get you out of there."_

Pit thanked Viridi before his wings plunged him downward. As he plummeted, his wings turned him around and he saw Shrips pursuing him with their blade beaks trained on him. He parried one of them, poisoning it in the process with his weapon and then shot the others before they reached him. Once they disappeared, the angel turned around and saw more monsters, Gyrazers, shooting lasers at him along with more Shyrens and Monoeyes coming at him.

Rolling his eyes, Pit activated one of his weapon's special attacks and pointed his weapon up, eliminating all of the enemies in front of him with lightning that arced into them from the sky.

 _"_ _Getting frustrated?"_

"I like killing monsters as much as the next guy, but we can't afford to waste time," Pit replied while dodging crescent blasts of energy from a squad of Wave Anglers.

Then he regarded the uneven and chasm-filled terrain of the mountains, "How in the world would a human army make it across these mountains by foot?"

 _"_ _Lots of perseverance,"_ Viridi answered. _"But we don't have that kind of time."_

"Right," Pit agreed. "Thanks again for your help, Viridi."

As the power of flight guided him through some plateaus, along with an underground passage to hide his location, the goddess noticed something in her scrying basin when he surfaced in a valley and said, _"Pit! Behind you!"_

The angel turned around and saw a whale-like enemy, a Belunka, flying up to him with its mouth opening to release smaller monsters.

The angel held up his Viper Blade, "Bring it on!"

 _"_ _I'll control your flight path so you don't run into anything. Focus on the fight!"_ Viridi urged.

Pit fired a charged shot at the large monster to poison it while nodding, "Got it!"

After dark purple bubbles started emerging from the carrier monster, Pit focused on destroying the reinforcements so he didn't get shot, shooting at the boss when he had the time to spare. Within a matter of moments, the Belunka succumbed to the poison in addition to the warrior's barrages. It fell into the valley and got left behind at the high speeds Viridi flew Pit at.

When he left the valley behind and came up to a massive cliff face, Viridi reported, _"Dark Lord Magnus's castle is up ahead."_

"What about that wall?"

 _"_ _Don't worry. I'll help you over."_

Pit didn't feel reassured as his wings sparked and started moving at even faster speeds than before. As wind rushed against him, his voice became distorted while he shouted, "G-force in my-y-y fa-a-a-a-a-ace!"

 _"_ _Suck it up!"_ Viridi ordered.

While shooting down enemies that tried to attack him, Pit finally cleared the wall and cheered when the speed reduced again, "Yeah! Take that, wall!" Then his cheer vanished as he saw hundreds of humans fighting against the Underworld Army.

"Look!"

 _"_ _Ugh, why did the humans have to get involved?"_ Viridi groaned. _"Then again, if I help them, they'll be indebted to me."_

Pit nodded as he shot down some monsters that assaulted the humans from the air, "Alright! Send me down!"

 _"_ _Not you,"_ the Goddess of Nature clarified. _"You need to take down Magnus. And the power of flight only lasts five minutes. But I_ am _going to send help."_

As she spoke, lightning danced in the storm clouds above. Unlike the previous lightning bolts conjured by the Underworld, this lightning shone yellow instead of blue.

 _"_ _You called, Viridi?"_ Phosphora's voice asked in the telepathic conversation.

 _"_ _Help out those humans against the Underworld forces,"_ Viridi ordered. _"I'd send Cragalanche, but he's more geared to one-on-ones with giant monsters."_ Meanwhile, she directed Pit to a sinister fortress perched on a spire in a chasm with a single bridge leading to the entrance.

 _"_ _Got it,"_ the blond teen answered. Soon after, a large lightning bolt raced downward and struck a mid-sized battalion of monsters. The nearby humans gawked for a moment before focusing back on their battles. Once the flash faded, Phosphora floated in the charred circle.

"Phosphora the Lightning Flash at your service," she drawled to the soldiers. Then she snapped her fingers and a chain of smaller bolts fried more monsters, easily sniping between the human warriors. "At least this'll give me a chance to stretch my legs."

Pit nodded as he glanced over his shoulder. Phosphora could definitely handle the Underworld Army. Viridi directed Pit to a balcony on the castle's second floor and his wings flapped once to steady him before he landed and the glow vanished.

"So this is the dark lord's castle," Pit said as he grabbed a cone of frozen yogurt from a nearby plate to replenish his energy.

 _"_ _Yeah,"_ Viridi replied while he ate. _"He must've built it in a hurry on his patron's orders to use as a stronghold for Underworld monsters. Creatures made to destroy and kill and other charming stuff like that."_

Pit swallowed the last of his treat and slashed a switch to activate it and open a trapdoor, "Yeah, pretty standard as far as evil fortresses go."

The angel jumped down and landed in a foyer with a pair of Skuttler Cannoneers and Skuttler Mages. Viridi notified him about two switches being used to open the door on the far wall. He took the skull-like enemies down easily and got an Impact Amplifier from a treasure chest between the staircases. Using it, he shattered the Coral on the second floor with a single slash and its scattered pieces triggered the switch. Crossing the bridge, Pit ducked under a Monolith and shot down the Boogity that tried to scare him before slashing another switch.

 _"_ _The door's open now. But a Ganewmede is guarding it. You know the drill, either melee it or shoot its eye to block its sight when it counters."_

Pit nodded and used the last effects of the Impact Amplifier to slash the cyclopean skull spider right down the middle. Crossing through the door unhindered now, Viridi spoke again.

 _"_ _There are a few treasure chests to your left, but they're beyond a trap. You can go get them or cross the bridge in front of you to go on to Magnus."_

"How do you know all this?" the captain asked.

 _"_ _That ear vine does a lot more than just let you communicate with my forces,"_ Viridi boasted. _"As the Goddess of Nature, I can use it like a radar to divine the location of all living things. I can even sense each individual brick of that castle."_

"So… the treasure chests…"

 _"_ _They're inlaid with gold, but still wooden,"_ the goddess answered. _"Now chop-chop, Pit, don't forget that you have ambassador duties after this."_

Pit decided to cross the bridge, knocking the Skuttler guard off and shooting at an urn spitting up Shemums along with a Paramush before it could reach the ground. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask," he spoke up. "You think I could have a short day on that end? I'd like to have a bit of time to practice with my new weapons so I'm comfortable with them later."

 _"_ _Fine,"_ she answered while Pit ran down the corridor. _"By the way, you're heading to the lower level of the interior garden. Wait… there's somebody there. And they're not an Underworld creature."_

When he emerged from a doorway, he heard feminine shouts and loud impact sounds.

"Look at that!" Pit muttered as a dirty blond-haired fighter in light metal armor fought against a group of monsters.

 _"_ _How did a human make it this deep into the fortress?"_ Viridi wondered.

The new fighter wielded a massive, iron-reinforced bow with deadly accuracy. She alternated between shooting massive arrows to impale them while retrieving them afterward and swinging the weapon to bludgeon the monsters. After doing just that to a Skuttler, she took another arrow and plunged it directly into the creature's eye.

Pit blinked as the skull-like enemy disappeared, "I guess _that's_ how…"

She turned around and looked at him with a curious expression as she put the massive arrow back into her quiver, "An angel? I hope that doesn't mean I've died to these weaklings."

 _"_ _I… guess you have some backup now,"_ the nature goddess commented.

Pit shook his head as he engaged more of the opponents filling the garden, "She's taking on the Underworld Army, and surviving! Are we _sure_ this lady's a human?"

 _"_ _I'm just as surprised as you, but my senses indicate that she's one hundred percent human,"_ Viridi replied.

The female warrior glanced at him, "You talking to yourself over there, angel?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Pit, servant of the goddess Palutena and ambassador to the goddess Viridi," the angel answered. "I'm here to defeat Dark Lord Magnus."

She raised an eyebrow, "So, you're here for a cut of the bounty too?"

"No, I mean… I'm here to defend the humans from the brutality of the Underworld Army," Pit outlined.

"Well that's fine, since you're an angel, after all…" the mercenary replied with a wave of her hand as she kicked a Shemum over and brained it with her bow. "I'm after the price on his head. Since we're both after Magnus, why don't we work together?"

Pit rubbed the back of his neck as he stabbed Specknose between the eyes, "Uh, I don't know…"

"Come now," she argued while shooting a Shrip and ripping the arrow out again to stab a Mik, both monsters vanishing. "What have you got to lose? It'll make it easier on both of us."

"Uh… Viridi?" the captain asked.

 _"_ _I'm all for moving this mission along faster,"_ she replied.

Pit nodded as the last monster fell, "All right, then. Resuming mission Dark Lord Suppression!"

"I'm Gaol, by the way," the fighter said. "Pleasure to meet you." Then she smiled, "Just don't shoot _me_ , and your wings won't be mounted on my wall."

 _"_ _I like her,"_ Viridi commented.

Gaol waved a hand for Pit to lead the way, "Since you seem to know where you're going, I'll follow you from here."

The angel sighed, "If I didn't already know so many strong girls, I'd probably be more shocked."

 _"_ _You know two."_

"Yeah, but the two I know are _you_ and _Phosphora_ ," Pit explained as if that justified his statement. "Speaking of which, how's the battle going on outside?"

 _"_ _Phosphora turned the tide, and now the humans are cleaning up,"_ the goddess reported. _"I hope they don't think they're keeping this fortress. I plan on Reset Bombing this area after this."_

"Really? Why?" the captain asked while he led Gaol further into a castle, down an underground passage.

 _"_ _This entire area is so barren from the Underworld's presence, it's a waste of perfectly good soil,"_ Viridi groused. _"I'm going to restore it to its natural state once you clear out. I told Phosphora to let them know."_

Pit shrugged, "Well, I guess it's okay, since no humans live here anyway." Meanwhile, the mercenary smashed a Coral to bits with her bow as Pit shot poisonous blasts at the Fire Wyrm up above.

"Gaol sure is strong," he commented as she swatted a Handora off the path into the chasm below.

 _"_ _Freakishly so for a human,"_ the Goddess of Nature agreed. _"She reminds me of a lioness."_

Pit shrugged while they continued to a door at the end of the path, "She must really want that reward."

 _"_ _Hey, desires I can work with,"_ Viridi retorted. _"Humans are as driven as animals with things they want, and it's convenient to know what bait they'll chase."_

"That's… kinda cold," the angel commented. "But it makes sense, I guess."

"Which goddess are you talking to?" Gaol asked while the duo engaged some monsters that ambushed them in a room with an elevator.

Pit blinked while shooting down a Skutter Cannoneer, "Um, the Goddess of Nature, Viridi. Lady Palutena is missing, and I believe Medusa has her."

"I see," the mercenary replied while impaling a Skuttler Mage with an arrow. "Well, if you find that Goddess of Light, give her a message from me. Tell her that she's been neglecting her duties. The world is on the brink of collapse from these monsters attacking."

The angel frowned at the insult to Palutena while bashing through a barrier and stabbing a Shildeen, "I'll keep that in mind when I'm done _freeing her from Medusa_."

"Thanks," Gaol replied, unperturbed by his sarcasm while taking down the last enemy.

With that done, the barrier disappeared and the two warriors boarded the elevator. After a few moments of waiting, the bars opened again and Viridi spoke up.

 _"_ _Try the door on your right, Pit. You'll be pleasantly surprised."_

He did so, and the waft of steam let him know what Viridi meant.

"Wait, is this…? It is!" He ran into the glowing yellow waters and felt the healing energy fill him, removing his fatigue. "A hot spring!"

Gaol rolled her eyes, "Apparently, someone favors a day at the spa."

Pit relaxed for only a moment before leaving back for the door, "Thanks, Viridi, that hit the spot!"

 _"_ _Don't mention it. The door right outside will take you to Dark Lord Magnus."_

"You go in fully dressed?" the mercenary asked. "Do you not own a… swimming suit, or something similar?"

"The angel's code of conduct says that we must always be ready for duty," Pit recited. Unknown to him, Viridi filed that information away for later.

Gaol shook her head, "I guess angels always follow the rules."

"Yeah… and I don't want to steam the sacred buns," the angel added as an afterthought.

She palmed her face, "More than I needed to know."

Meanwhile, Viridi remained silent and had temporarily cut off her mental communication to force away the image that Pit had put in her head.

Following his patron's earlier instructions, the young captain led Gaol further into the castle through the door. An outcropping path wound its way up a tower with a pit in the center.

"Long way up," Pit commented as he shot down a Boogity floating next to the path. "Of course the dark lord would put himself on the highest chamber of the castle."

 _"_ _They tend to be egotistical like that,"_ the Goddess of Nature commented, seamlessly restarting the link.

As the duo made their way up, they cut through a Shildeen blocking the way with a Skuttler Cannoneer shooting from the inside and a Porcuspine before arriving at an ominous blue door. A Drink of the Gods appeared, which Pit drank to cure himself of the minor wounds and fatigue.

The door opened, and the two warriors nodded at each other before running through. Once on the other side, they reached a large hall with a dark throne at the end. A sinister figure in menacing purple armor stood by the side of it and Pit pointed his weapon forward with Gaol at his side. Red-tipped horns adorned the helm and a flowing red cape writhed with dark magic.

"Prepare for defeat, Dark Lord Magnus!"

Green flames danced up the dark lord's arms and weapon as he brandished a club-like sword while speaking in a distorted voice with glowing green eyes, "Aw, Palutena's little messenger boy. And Gaol, good to see you again."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the mercenary said as she nocked an arrow and held her bow ready to be drawn. "I had other business to attend to."

Pit looked between the two, "Wait, you two know each other?"

Magnus immediately became wreathed in flames as he raced forward and screeched to a halt, sending a wave of flames at the duo. Pit merely jumped over the wave. He still couldn't fly, but his jumping ability had grown astronomically from Cragalanche's training. Gaol dropped away from the blast, sliding on the ground with her back and firing her arrow. It managed to dent the armor from the impact and bounced off while causing Magnus to growl. She rolled back to her feet after the wave passed and retrieved the arrow as she ran, nocking it again for another shot.

Pit landed and rushed Magnus, dodging his wide swings and kicks while getting in his own slashes. He got grabbed, but he activated Brief Invincibility right before the club hit him.

As the angel went flying back, another large arrow impacted the dark lord's head from behind, making him growl and turn around to engage Gaol.

"I expected you alone," Magnus said. "It's not like you to go for help to someone else."

Gaol shrugged as she ducked a swing and slid back while firing another arrow, "He wasn't interested in the money, and I'm not one to turn away free help."

"Funny you should mention that," he chuckled. "I've been hiring more help myself."

Pit rejoined the fight right as Skuttlers appeared, firing their own shots while Magnus' blade extended with a flaming silhouette and he carved a trench in the hall with each swing. Once the two started ganging up on him, he plunged the sword into the ground to blow them away with a shockwave.

The angel rolled back to his feet and used a Health Recovery while Gaol appeared to just tough it out. They resumed the attack while Magnus panted at the huge power exertion and he was slow at dodging, allowing them to deal more punishment on his armor. Eventually, a booming sound rang out along with a scream from Magnus.

"Dark lord suppressed!" Pit shouted victoriously.

Gaol nodded, "Well done, angel."

Magnus reeled back a few steps while clutching his chest before a pillar of shadow energy erupted from his armor, leaving it a dull grey and black while he fell back. When he hit the floor, his armor's helmet and upper torso shattered and the flames extinguished. With the helmet gone, Magnus was revealed to be a muscled man with shoulder-length black hair.

The female mercenary walked over and took a knee next to the unconscious man, "Sorry it had to come to this, Magnus."

"Magnus was a human?" Pit asked in shock. "I-I didn't know… What have I done…"

 _"_ _Pit, Magnus must've been possessed,"_ Viridi consoled. _"Think of all the humans you saved from his actions. Besides, my divine senses tell me that he's holding out."_

"Really?!" Pit moved to check, but a green light started enveloping him.

 _"_ _You have other things to do, Pit. I'll get them out of there before the Reset Bombs come down."_

* * *

By the time Viridi sent Captain Flare to warp Gaol and Magnus away from the area, all of the human armies had cleared out. They had heard news of Viridi and how ruined cities had vanished overnight to be replaced by forests, and they didn't feel like testing that power or her patience.

After the Goddess of Nature did a quick survey of the landscape to ensure no humans remained, a pink dot appeared in the sky. Rapidly growing larger with its descent, a Reset Bomb crashed directly into the fortress of the former Dark Lord. The ensuing explosion destroyed the castle and broke it apart. Brambles and ivy spread across the landscape, and the ground became re-saturated with nutrients, allowing for long dead and buried plants to re-grow.

Over the next few hours, more of Viridi's bombs crashed into the barren landscape. Before long, the entire mountain range became enveloped in the pink field.

After a time, scouts from the army returned to see what the results had yielded and stood in awe at the sight before them.

Dense greenery decorated the mountains and tops of the plateaus and valleys. Dry riverbeds flowed with water again and flowers decorated the forest. Even some animals had repopulated the area. The castle of the Underworld Army showed no signs of ever existing, a lake with a small island taking its place.

* * *

After Pit's allotted time to practice with his new weapons, he went back to his ambassador duties, riding atop the familiar Lurchthorn. The towns that Viridi directed him to seemed to all be the ones that sent their armies to attack the former dark lord.

They all signed the agreement right away.

* * *

 **That's the second chapter of the main story down! I hope that I wrote Gaol's character well.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


	10. Chapter 9: The Hewdraw's Heads

Chapter 9: The Hewdraw's Heads

The next day, Pit received a red alert while eating breakfast. For Captain Flare to appear meant that Viridi needed him immediately. The flaming troop warped Pit to the corridor with the weapon he'd planned on practicing with that day, the Ogre Club, before warping away again.

 _"_ _Hurry up, Pit!"_

"What's-"

The door opened and Pit saw Underworld forces right outside, so he acted on instinct and used a special attack to push back the forces. Four giant tornadoes swept forth and sent all of the monsters flying. Well, all of the monsters that didn't get ripped to shreds by the fierce winds.

"What are all of these monsters doing here?!" Pit shouted as he jumped out and the power of flight activated.

 _"_ _Medusa must be a little salty about us destroying her fort, so she's invading my sanctuary,"_ Viridi explained. _"My Forces of Nature can handle the grunts; I need you to take the commander."_

"Right!" the captain confirmed.

And as he surveyed the battlefield like Arlon had taught him to, he noticed that his flight path was relatively clear. All of the Monoeyes, Miks and Shyrens were preoccupied fighting regiments of Bladers, Nutskis, Zerts, Parashooters and Lurchthorns with Mahvas to form shields around their own while the fliers shot projectiles and lasers from a distance.

On the sanctuary itself, other battles raged on with the Underworld Army being kept at bay from the sanctuary's gardens by Dibble Dops, more Bladers, Lethiniums, Meebas, Urgles, Boom Stompers, Flages and Megontas. Even Captain Flare fought in both the land and the air, simply warping around the field, dropping meteors on monsters from behind.

"Wow," he commented while idly bashing a Specknose that managed to break away from the air battle between the eyes with the spiked club. "If this were Skyworld, I'd have to handle all of this myself. Not that I _couldn't_ , but still, wow."

Viridi scoffed, _"My children are no pushovers. Now, unfortunately you'll have to take on Hewdraw by yourself."_

"Wait… Hewdraw?" Pit asked. "You mean that Underworld lava wyrm?"

 _"_ _That's the one. I sent some Bladers with a Mahva to clear out his guards, but…"_ The goddess's tone became a bit more subdued, _"One of the heads bit the shield to break it and the other two burned them to ashes."_

"Oh…"

Viridi went back to her commanding tone, _"That's why you're here. You're not fireproof, but none of my children can go anywhere near a fire-breather and my commanders are back-up for protecting the inner gardens, should any others fall."_

"Got it," Pit said as his eyes trained on a purple serpentine form in the distance. "I've sighted the Hewdraw; I'm going in!"

The angel's wings flashed, and he sped forward, having a clear path to the Underworld forces' leader. His brow furrowed as he got closer and he clenched the club as he recalled one fact about Viridi's troops, her children.

* * *

 ** _"_** ** _Pit, I don't understand," Viridi said as she watched him train after taking down Magnus's fortress. "How can you be so strong, but the foot soldiers of Palutena can barely handle a squad of Monoeyes without you there? I mean, look at you! You just took down a fortress and you start training again after a bite to eat!"_**

 ** _Pit wound down from a melee combo with the Rose Staff and took aim to shoot the targets, "Well, the Centurions don't really have any motivation to get stronger. If any of them die, Palutena just revives them."_**

 ** _"_** **Excuse** ** _me?"_**

 ** _The scary tone made the angel's shot go wide and miss until it faded from being too far away. Pit turned and saw Viridi clutching her staff with a fierce scowl._**

 ** _"_** ** _Uh, did I say something wrong?" the captain gingerly asked._**

 ** _The goddess didn't say anything, simply turning around to leave, but Pit ran after her, dropping the staff to the grass of the field and following her. He kept pace with her two steps behind and continued, "If I said something wrong, I'd like to apologi-"_**

 ** _"_** ** _It wasn't_** **you** ** _," she said in a short tone. "Not intentionally, anyway."_**

 ** _Pit blinked and thought over what he'd said, exactly. Viridi had heard about the Centurions' incompetence before, so that couldn't be it. When he reached the only other conclusion, his eyes widened and he stopped at the thought of it._**

 ** _"_** ** _Viridi…?" the angel asked. The Goddess of Nature stopped a few steps away._**

 ** _"_** ** _Can you not revive the Forces of Nature if they die in battle?"_**

 ** _She let a sigh out through her nose, "No, Pit, I can't. I can pull them out before they take anything fatal, and I can heal them by planting them, giving them more of what makes up their body or fuel for said body in the case of Captain Flare, but no. If they die, they're gone for good. All I can do is create new troops to serve in their stead."_**

 ** _"_** ** _Well, if they never battle then they'll be-"_**

 ** _"_** ** _All natural things come to an end, Pit," the goddess interrupted. "If they don't fight, they die of old age. None of my children will live forever. Now, just keep up the training you wanted to do. I'll send the Lurchthorn to pick you up when it's time for your ambassador duties."_**

 ** _Viridi walked away, and Pit's wings drooped. He wanted to follow her, but he got the distinct impression that nothing he could say would cheer her up._**

* * *

Some feeling in his head told him that angels shouldn't harbor feelings like vengeance, but like he usually did nowadays, the warrior shoved it back. That part of his mind really needed to stop with the contradicting thoughts.

The angel approached the Hewdraw, his three heads different colors. The left head was blue, the right one red and the middle one purple along with the scaled body. All three had fins on the sides of their head and a horn at the top of their head and snout. The blue head had already spotted him and the trio spoke from left to right, their voices higher in pitch as he went across the front of them.

"Hello there!" "It's snack time!" "Mm! What a tender little morsel!"

"I am _not_ a piece of meat!" Pit growled.

The heads responded in reverse order, "What did you say?" "Technically you are." "Much better than the salad sent here last."

Pit's rage sparked as he flew around to the wyrm's back. The three heads said "Get ready for-" in unison before splitting off and trying to speak over each other, only the purple head's words coming through clearly.

"Total annihilation!" the red one shouted.

The blue head instead said, "Bone-crushing destruction!"

"Face-stomping carnage!" the center said over the others. "It was _my_ turn to have the last word!"

The left groaned "Oh, give it a rest." before the three dissolved into bickering. Still entirely intent on fighting them, Pit ran up the Hewdraw's back and raised the Ogre Club high, the power of flight temporarily vanishing.

The spikes brimmed with energy and the captain swung the club down, causing the center head to cry out in the middle of saying "Somebody put me out of my misery." Right as the spikes hit the scales, Pit triggered a charge shot from the weapon and used the force of the explosion to vault into the air as the purple Hewdraw head jerked downward. His wings glowed green again as Viridi caught him.

"Foul!" the red head shouted. "I call foul!"

"Dirty trick attacking us in the middle of an argument!" the blue one added.

"I came to fight, and if you're going to attack Lady Viridi's sanctuary, then-"

The blue head retorted, "But there are still rules of engagement."

"What's the world coming to when angels take sneak attacks?" the red added.

"She was right," the center head commented as he looked back up again, "he _has_ changed."

As Pit ignored their discussion and wound up for another charge shot, the three heads shouted, "EVERYBODY! SHUT UP AND FOCUS!"

'Autoreticle!' Pit thought in response and a cursor appeared in the angel's view that shifted from head to head as he looked around. He fired a charge shot at the blue head as he charged up a fire attack. The energy homed in on the reared head and hit home, cancelling his charge.

The violet head lashed forward, trying to bite him, but Pit dodged and hit him with two swipes of the Ogre Club, causing a few spurts of purple blood to leak from between the scales and breaking one of the fins.

The right head fired a few crescent blasts of energy while the violet head tried charging up a laser, but Pit dodged and activated another special attack, dealing heavy damage to the two heads on the side while slicing the center one clean off.

All the same, Pit felt his wings beginning to heat up. Viridi spoke in his mind, _"You're running out of time!"_

'I got this,' he responded internally before shouting, "Hey, Red! Don't lose your head!" He wound up as if for another charge shot while getting into position. The right head panicked and fired a laser of his own.

'Reflect Barrier!'

As the wall of blue energy appeared, the blast ricocheted towards the left head.

"Oh-"

He didn't get the chance to finish that sentence as the energy hit and knocked the blue head clean off as well, smoking on the way down.

"Ah!" the remaining head screamed. "The other heads! You have no right!"

"I have every right!" Pit retorted. "And since the others are gone and you're the one with a body, I guess that makes you the new Hewdraw."

"Raaah!" He tried fighting back, but Pit dodged any attacks easily and fired charge shots periodically. When the monster tried biting him, he swept to the side and bashed him on the top of the head, sinking the spikes into his skull as a final boom sounded.

The Hewdraw's entire body dimmed and convulsed before plummeting, unable to fly anymore. Right as he sank beneath the clouds, an explosion of purple light similar to Twinbellows' heralded the commander's death.

Pit let out a breath through his nose, "Good riddance."

 _"_ _Don't celebrate too soon, Pit,"_ Viridi cautioned. _"I can still sense the other heads. They must be able to live without a body… Oh, great! They're heading to a town and the Underworld troops are following! I've sent a Mudrone to stall them, but get over there and squash those heads! I'll send Arlon to evacuate the town with some Mahvas, Nutskis and Pips."_

"Right!" the angel confirmed before blinking. "Uh, but why Pips?"

 _"_ _Of all my children, they're the best at 'divide and conquer.' So long as they can reunite or one body survives, they'll be fine. Now let's get you moving!"_

* * *

Back in the unfortunate town, a sentry reported the strange sight of two dragon-like heads bouncing towards them at breakneck speeds, along with a horde of other monsters. The people had begun to panic, but a calming voice spoke magnified by telepathy.

 _"_ _Worry not, citizens. This town is under the protection of Mistress Viridi."_

In the center of town, the council watched as a purple-skinned man in a suit levitated to land in the square. He held a hand to his chest with a light bow as flying acorns, living cells and floating… cuttlefish (?) accompanied his arrival. Half of the acorns and cuttlefish moved to fly above the cities walls while the cells split into multiple copies of themselves before departing in all directions down streets and alley ways. The sea creatures turned out to be barrier creatures, erecting force fields that stopped the Underworld Army's advance on the city.

 _"_ _I am Arlon the Serene,"_ he greeted. _"Now, forgive me, but we must move posthaste. I shall send cell-like creatures to act as guides to evacuation sites. Once there, you will be escorted to a safe location with one of our defenders, the Mahvas. I shall also accompany you as an extra precaution."_

Once he'd finished his speech, he turned to the council and people already leaving their houses around the square, "You all may come with me to the evacuation point."

 _"_ _Please do hurry,"_ Arlon requested. _"Our forces' barriers cannot hold indefinitely, and the Nutskis can only take down so many foes."_

* * *

Pit found the first Hewdraw head, the blue one, still locked in battle with the Mudrone and landed to cool his wings before they caught fire. Another track of the heads' trail went around it, but Pit saw the protection up ahead and knew that the humans would be safe by the time the commander could get through.

So he focused on the head in front of him, and the Mudrone smiled with his runny mouth before dispersing into the ground.

"Ha!" The reptilian head bounced forward, "Now I can-"

A block of mud rose up and hardened, stopping his assault before lowering again. Pit rushed forward to attack, but the head saw him while bouncing and rolled out of the way.

"Hello, angel. Another sneak attack?"

The captain just held his weapon at the ready for another charge attack and the head charged with his jaws clamping. Surprisingly, instead of dodging to the side, which the monster was ready for, Pit jumped over him with a back-flip and twist. Once he was right side up in the air and facing the head behind him, he fired the charge shot at the head's insides which were still exposed from where he'd been severed.

"Ack!" he grunted in pain. "You fly now?!"

The angel landed with a smirk, "Not flying, but I am as light as a feather without my training gear."

The two's dance continued for a while, the Hewdraw head unable to land any substantial hits on Pit. Meanwhile, the angel continued wearing him down until he dealt the final blow. The head went still, leaking a small stream of purple light and Pit looked around to find the last head's trail.

 _"_ _He's gone to the lake outside of the town,"_ Viridi reported. _"Apparently, he didn't see an empty town as worth the trouble to breach the barrier and decided to bide his time by going around and into the water."_

"Got it," Pit replied before concentrating and triggering Super Speed and Lightweight at the same time. With both active, he dashed off to follow the trail the head left moving about as fast as his top speed with the power of flight.

The angel laughed a bit as he saw the landscape zip by, "Gotta give Phosphora credit where it's due. This power combo was a stroke of genius!" She had recommended it to him to make their fights more interesting. With it, he could keep up with her speed except when she turned into a bolt of lightning. It was so effective that he decided to keep it in case he needed to travel fast overland.

 _"_ _I'm sending you a Drink of the Gods about ten meters ahead,"_ Viridi said. _"Can't have you tired out from the trip."_

Sure enough, a small flash of green light shone on the ground in front of him and Pit swept up the winged bottle without stopping. He chugged it down and the bottle vanished from his hand.

With another use of the power combo, Pit arrived at the lake in record time. He internally cursed as he saw the last Hewdraw head swimming around with a new serpentine body. Luckily, he only had one head, but Pit knew this reborn Hewdraw wouldn't be as easy as the air battle with free dodging and the head which had limited mobility.

The purple wyrm reared up from the water with an intimidating roar and said, "So you've finished off the others, eh?"

"You know it," the angel replied.

"Then you've saved the best for last!" the Hewdraw laughed. "Let's get down to business!" He punctuated the sentence with another roar, but Pit just readied his club, unafraid.

The Underworld serpent started by shooting fireballs that Pit dodged easily and followed up with a blue fireball that split into several bouncing ones once it hit the ground. The angel managed to land a charge shot on his opponent's face, but then the Hewdraw dove under the water, shooting a semi-homing spike at the angel as he did so. Two fireballs floated over the water as well

"What? He went underwater!" Pit complained.

Viridi replied, _"Well, the last battle was in the air, but now we're out of your element. Wait… Try hitting those fireballs into the water where you see him swimming."_

Pit nodded and jumped, reaching as far as he could with his club to bat one of the floating projectiles into the lake. It detonated underwater and sent the serpent flying out to land on the shore.

 _"_ _Now, Pit!"_

Pit had already started rushing forward and began bashing the Underworld commander repeatedly. Unfortunately, before he could finish, the Hewdraw inched his way back into the water before rearing back up again.

"Using my own attacks against me?" he questioned rhetorically. "You're smarter than I remember."

Pit was momentarily caught flat-footed by the praise, but then focused again and shot a charge shot from the Ogre Club. It hit home, but the Hewdraw started charging up his own attack. The angel got ready to dodge the laser, but he got taken by surprise when the large ball of energy fired as multiple darts.

He managed to dodge most of them, but was forced to bring up his club to block the last one. It detonated as soon as it stuck into the wood and sent splinters into his face. Luckily, he'd closed his eyes before they reached him.

He felt blood running down his forehead, so he used a quick Health Recovery to patch up the small cuts and preserve his vision. Following that, he twisted his weapon to have the damaged side facing towards himself and continued battling the Hewdraw. He managed to get the serpent out of the water again for another beating, but again failed to finish him off.

When the battle finally finished with a crashing sound as the Underworld commander recoiled, Pit let out a breath of relief, leaning on his club.

The serpent shimmered with leaking energy as he quivered in his upright position, "Look how far you've come, Pit. I'm proud of you…"

Pit raised an eyebrow and then shielded his face as the Hewdraw fell into the water, exploding into a fountain of light blue light that sent droplets of water flying into the air.

The angel lowered his arm once it died down and the water fell back to the ground, "Huh. You don't usually meet such nice bosses."

 _"_ _Anybody can be impressed by a worthy opponent,"_ Viridi replied. _"Let's get you back. Arlon will move the humans back to the town and you need to rest up for tomorrow. Seems our diplomacy will have to wait until we finish clearing up this Underworld crisis."_

A rainbow formed from the drops falling in the sky as Pit got warped from the lake.

* * *

 **Another chapter down! I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter, and I'd appreciate a review to know if there's anything I need to improve on.**

 **See you when I see you.**

 **-AJ203**


End file.
